UPSET INCOMING? Canadiens vs Lightning Deep Dive?!

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Here we are, my friends.

The long wait is kind of over.

We still have a couple of more sleeps to go.

One more for the NHL playoffs to begin, one, an extra one for the Canadians 545, Star

Time, Marco and I will be at McClain's public house for our Playoff Live Edition Sunday,

afternoon, late afternoon.

We'll be there on the air right here on YouTube.com, but please we encourage you to come down

and check us out.

We're going to be upstairs, Marco.

We're going to be upstairs in the Mezzanine portion where we have it reserved and boy oh boy,

it appears we're going to have it jammed house, Marco, it's such a great time to be there

with a great partner like McClain's.

Absolutely.

I think that's the place to be, and you know, we've already spoken to Stu.

Chicken tenders will be made available for me specifically.

Special.

Special.

Special delivery for me, but we will have obviously the watch party that will be prizes

to be handed out as well, so we hope to see as many of you there.

And if there's no more room left upstairs in the Mezzanine, because there is a limit

of 36 and we don't want to go to jail, you could always go downstairs.

There's, you know, this is probably going to be a star in Demiko production in the sense

that it'll probably be just the people that watch the show, friends and family and whatnot.

So it'll still be packed, but it'll be this crowd and I think this crowd is the best

crowd when it comes to the Canadians fandom around.

So I hope to see you all there.

Which preach Marco, can I get a quick vibe check on how you're feeling as we get into

the playoffs?

They start Saturday afternoon.

Canadians Sunday at 545.

At the end of the day, obviously you bring the facts and the information, but the playoffs

are always such a fun time.

I find myself a little bit more amplified.

It kind of sucks.

I'm a little impatient.

I'm not going to lie.

I'm kind of wishing it was Sunday already, but why don't you check in with the vibe check

here?

Oh, I mean, it's a nice outside.

I think everyone's very excited for the playoffs.

I think that there is a legitimate vibe around the team that they could very much surprise,

even though they are seen as the as the betting underdogs in this in this in this series.

And I think, you know, it's it's really a good litmus test for where the Canadians are

in this rebuild because my opinion is, I think Tampa Bay is the best team in the Eastern

Conference.

I said that before.

I'll say it again, but they're beatable in the sense that they're the best team in the

Eastern Conference because of the elite talent they have in at each position forward, middle,

defense, goalie, they are elite there.

And that's just the way that that team was constructed over time.

But there could very well be a symbolic changing of the guard if the Canadians are able to

use their skill and their speed with the tenacity and the team toughness.

They've showed us down the stretch to elevate to the level where they could be, you know,

they'd be able to slay the beast and move on and show that they're a team to be taken

seriously.

So, make sure to stick with us for the entirety of this episode.

We're going to dive deep.

If Marco is comfortable, he could throw out a series prediction.

I have my series prediction locked and loaded ready to go, focusing obviously very much

on the Montreal Canadians in Tampa Bay Lightning, best of seven series.

We know the schedule is out Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, 545 Sunday, and then we've got seven

o'clock games when the series shifts the rest of the way.

No Saturday game, by the way, for the Montreal Canadians in this best of seven with the

10th Bay Lightning.

They're trying to make sure the cocafial doesn't score.

Great thinking, great thinking, trying to eliminate the mystery Saturday night.

We'll get into the potency.

We'll get into why this.

I think this is going to be such a tight series.

You talk about goal tending.

You talk about potency across the board, the Montreal Canadians and their forward combinations.

But the Montreal Canadians have been practicing in back-to-back days as they prepare for the

series opener on Sunday.

So let's put this on the table here from our esteemed colleague, the great Marc Antoine

Goudain, with Arpen Basu on the Basu and Goudain notebook on youtube.com, Marco.

Nick Suzuki who missed Thursday's practice is back centering the number one line.

No surprise there.

What was surprising a little bit here is too, too full to me and obviously your reaction

here.

Two centers on the air quote, fourth line in Denon Evans flank by Anderson.

And I'm calling it the show me line, Zachary Bolton, Oliver Cappanin and Kirby doc, all

three guys that I think Marta Saint Louis is expecting to see something from because contrary

to last season, Marco, they have options this time around.

So let's get your reaction first up.

Let's start with line number four with Evans Denon and Josh Anderson.

What do you think of that makeup here?

Well, that's line number three.

Just going to put it out there.

We may put the the the the the Buzzerk Cappanin doc line ahead.

But you'll see when the ice time is you know separated throughout the game, Evans Denon

and Anderson are going to be used as a secondary or a primary shutdown line with Colcoffield

and Nick Suzuki and Slavkovsky.

Those two will be your defensive matchup lines and then Texier, New Hook and Demidovel be

your prime offensive matchup line where you're going to probably give them most of the offensive

starts and then you're going to try to shelter Buzzerk Cappanin and doc.

That's the strategy I've seen from Marta Saint Louis down the stretch.

You know, and I one of the things I like, for example, you bring up that that shut down

line.

Evans and Denon on the same line is something I've wanted to see for a little bit.

One's a righty Evans.

The other one's a lefty and Denon so you'll always have the strength to face off despite

not having the last change on the road.

Very valuable asset to have.

And then Josh Anderson, well, is a freight train out there.

So that is going to be a heavy four-check line in being able to try to maybe take advantage

of some longer shifts in the offensive zone or maybe mistakes in the neutral zone.

I like what I see there.

It has the makings of a good shut down line, but don't get it twisted as much as we're

going to put it that way.

That line is probably going to end up being either the second or third most use line

of five on five.

I wouldn't even be surprised if on the road they were the second most use.

Alex Texay with Alex Newhook and Ivan Demidov here.

What do you make of the way Texays played down the stretch going into game one on Sunday?

Respectable, but hasn't really stood out.

I thought he had a really good assist against Philadelphia.

He's always part of the play.

He's always in the play, but I think with Texay and I think it maybe it has to go back

to confidence in timing.

Oftentimes, he was in the right place at the right time, but the execution wasn't quick enough.

Well, I hope, you know, if if the execution is as quick as the setup is because Demidov

is going to find him on the ice, no problem, it's just about being quick on that.

One thing that I really appreciate from the Ivan and sorry, the even and Alex Newhook combination

is the playmaker and how quick Alex Newhook's release is on the one timer, right?

It makes him a go to shooter and a shoot first center is, you know, probably something that

you could see in the middle of the sixth there with Newhook and Kapanen, those two are

shoot first kind of centers.

And then you have more of a plate, I guess a dual threat in this case with Nick Suzuki,

but more of a playmaker.

So there's a good difference here.

And if you look down the lineup, right center, left center, right center, left center,

right?

So there's they're not going to get caught on which side of the pocket, the things are

going to be on now simply just becomes a question of execution.

So I feel like it's balanced.

It's not sexy, but it's balanced.

And I think that's the most important part when you're going into a playoff series against

the team is deep and forward as the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The defensive pairings are interesting as well.

You know, if you're seeing it on the screen, there it is.

If you're listening on audio podcast platform with star and Tamiko, Kate and Gouli Mike

Matheson, Lene Hudson, Alex Carrier, Strubel and Jack I as your three pairs and your six

defensive Marco, I would imagine the likenliness of fluctuation between who plays with whom

over the course of a 60 minute going into overtime type of scenario.

This is where we're going to see the most mixing and matching, right?

Yes.

Absolutely.

And I, you know, unfortunately, I know a lot of people wanted to see David Ryan Bakker

play a couple games, but we spoke about this on the last show.

I felt like if Alex Carrier was going to be good to go, then they're Ryan Bakker wasn't

going to be able to draw in, and that's exactly what we're seeing from Martana Saint-Louis.

It's good to keep Ryan Bakker around again, like we said, LaValle doesn't start their playoff

run for a good week or so, you know, they, there's still the buy-around in the playoffs

in the American Hockey League.

So there's no rush to send them back.

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Keeping them around is good and if anything happens knock on wood, you have a plug-and-play

player that you can put on your third pair on the right side.

But this was a very predictable outcome from Martin Saint Louis if he decides to go with

this.

Come Sunday because Gouli Matheson, we talked about it, the top shutdown pair, I think

that makes sense.

Carrier and Hudson is not necessarily a pairing that I feel is going to be very popular in

the comment section.

All right.

I don't disagree.

If we have to go this route, I much prefer Struble with Hudson, but then the flip side becomes

I really am not confident in the Carrier Jacki combination either.

So this is kind of the best of both worlds with what you have and it really does speak

to the importance of David or I'm back or eventually developing into a legitimate top

four defenseman because look what happens the moment you lose no adopson, right?

Like that's, it becomes very difficult to be able to kind of restructure your defense

and it goes to show you how important he is to their success just from a structural perspective

never mind with the on-eye stuff that we're going to get to.

So Gouli Matheson makes sense.

I think having Hudson Carrier, a lot of people are going to be worried about the size.

I get it.

I respect that position and to a degree, I share it, but I do feel like Carrier will

be more of the stay at home kind of guy, which will allow Hudson to kind of do his thing

offensively and you know that he's going to be back or at least attempting to be back

in those scenarios.

The only thing that worries me about that pairing is going to be when they're going to get

hemmed in their own zone along the boards because it becomes that rotation along the

boards as they try to play man-to-man.

I don't know that that's the most optimal, but if you're going to play four defensemen

20 plus minutes, it was predictable that there would be those four that Martins St.

Lee would have in his first two pairs.

There's Marco Miko and Sean Star.

Make sure you stay with us as we dive deep into the Canadians, the best of seven series

with the Tampa Bay Lightning reminder, we're going to be live Sunday for game one starting

at 5 o'clock on youtube.com, but we'd love to see on Peel Street at McLean's public house.

Great service, we're going to be upstairs in the mezzanine, they've got multiple floors,

they've got all TVs spread throughout across the room, so there's no bad vantage point.

The show by the way will also be in the bar being played live as we go on ahead of

puck drop, right?

So you've got great service, great options for food and drinks, so when we encourage you

to come by and check us out Sunday live at 5 o'clock at McLean's public house, you know,

you talk about the importance of mixing and matching your lines because this is what

it's going to come down to.

And like my personal read on this is if there's one thing I want to see, I want to see

the Montreal Canadians look a little bit more comfortable, I want to see them look like

they kind of belong, not so much how the series played out last spring against the Washington

capitals.

And I don't think at the Tampa Bay Lightning are play the same style, Marco, that we saw

against Washington.

There's a lot of post whistle shenanigans, but in terms of the rough and tumble run you

over during the course of play, I'm not so worried about that as we saw last spring.

What about that element before we get into the matchups and who's going to be responsible

as we go one V one line, V line, what about that element that much spoken of physical component

of this game and how Montreal could fair against Tampa Bay?

Well, there's a reason why Tampa went to go and get Corey Perry is because they felt

that they were missing that element, right?

And he does to a degree help a great deal, but if they're going to stash them on the

fourth line to start in playing, you know, obviously that's a trap fourth line.

But I think when you look at the way that their top six is built, it's not a very big top

six.

Like at all, in fact, Kucherov, you know, is not the biggest guy.

Now there's point.

Now there's Sirelli.

Now there's Gensel.

Hegel has good size.

So it is going to solve this, but we'll see whether or not he ends up staying on that

line.

You know, I guess we could just bring it up here if you want, but it's to me, you know,

you look at it right now.

Even their third line, like Nick Paul is a behemoth, yes.

But then after that, Gurgonsons is a horse.

I give you that.

But you're not looking at physical elements on that bottom six either.

So really, to me, it's that top six elite quality two way play.

The middle six is shut down ability.

You look at Gurgonsons, Gord and Paul, an excellent shut down third line where Yani Gord

and analytically is expected to earn, you know, silky votes.

I'm not saying he's winning by any stretch of the imagination.

But if you were to go with pure defensive, you know, like efficiency, he's definitely

one of the best defensive forwards this season.

And then Perry will see who the fourth line center is and your strand is a trap line in

my opinion.

That is not a regular fourth line.

That's like third line number two just depends on who the fourth line center will be.

So the matchups become interesting because as we kind of assess, you know, Dominic James

is in there because, you know, there's some injuries as well at forward.

But to me, it's that second line.

And you look at that second line.

Those are guys that daily face off points out as well and it's something that was kind

of brought to me point, coach, Hagel, Sirelli and Gensel have all been going through injuries

this year.

Are they really going to be able to be as effective at being physical, at being in your

face, at being the kind of team that's going to be at you?

And I just don't, I don't know.

I think that that third line is going to try to impose itself physically.

I definitely feel like Perry, if they feel they're being out muscled, can jump into the

top line with point and Kucherov as we've seen, you know, with with Tampa Bay, Cooper has

no problem mixing and matching in the same, in the same, in the same game either, just

like Martin St. Louis.

So they have the elements.

What they have is the established top end skill.

And we can talk about the Canadians right now.

The Canadians have five players in their top six, or sorry, four players in their top

six that could rival the five in theirs right now.

Where I think the difference lies, Sean, is point, Sirelli, Gord, one, two, three.

How much more pressure does that put on, you know, the role that Josh Anderson is going

to play?

Jake Evans, how important are these guys going to be when we talk about, I mean, almost

mission impossible.

Like Nikita Kucherov is going to probably get his, right?

I mean, the chess master himself in the, in the words of Martin St. Louis and, and John

Cooper, Jake Gensel brings extraordinary secondary scoring, Hegel back in the lineup.

He played the final game for the Tampa Bay Lightning when they lost to the Rangers, played

over 20 minutes there.

Anthony Sirelli, who's obviously, I mean, the top six is, is, is deep.

Let's talk about the responsibility of someone like Jake Evans, Josh Anderson, who ramps

it up, come playoff time.

You know, that cliched X factor, Marco.

Yeah, I mean, I think you know what you're going to be getting with Josh Anderson.

I don't think I think everybody is willing to deal with the high salary that he has.

Yeah, specifically because of what he brings ironically, once he stops getting paid,

which is in the playoffs, right?

Players don't get paid.

And that's where I feel like Josh Anderson's value is at his highest is when those kinds

of games happen.

And that's why he's been kept around.

But you talk about guys are going to have to elevate at Jake Evans has to be far more

aggressive, far harder to beat on the puck.

That's definitely going to, you're going to have to see that element there.

But for me, the most, and you, I think you talked about it, you alluded to, it's going

to be that other line, the Budzik, Kapan and Doc line, Budzik and Kapan and Doc have

to go back to being the physical wingers that they were before Doc's injury in December.

If they can go back to that identity and impose themselves on the forecheck and be physical,

they have the ability to do so.

And in fact, if you looked at, if you, if you look at the Canadians from top to bottom,

there are in fact bigger team.

At Ford, then Tampa, or I think it's like they're right there.

So there isn't a size discrepancy, the only, the only thing that really brings down the

average is coffee field.

But that's Suzuki is 5, 11, 6 foot, Slavkowski, 6, 3, 6, 4, Texia, 6, 2, New York is 5,

11, 6 foot, Demidov is 6, 1, Budzik, 6, 1, Kapan and 6, 2, Doc, 6, 4, right?

Dono, I believe is 6, 1, Anderson is 6, 3, like they have one player under 5, 11,

and when, you know, Tampa Bay may have some guys kind of, you know, listed at 6 foot,

but stat lines and stuff.

That being said, I feel like the Canadians, what they can't do, I think,

is try to be the aggressor to the degree where they get away from the game of playing

sound in the neutral zone, which they've done a lot.

If you look at Tampa, Tampa likes to cheap down the middle where they have guys waiting

just at the blue for the bomb pass to go down the wings and overload the defenseman.

So that's going to be a big thing on the centers to watch because it's what, you know,

Marta is saying that we didn't like of Kapanin's game before he got moved to the wing was

that whenever those teams would look to go and make those bomb plays, generally the

center is the one covering the middle of the ice that's able to be positioned in a way

where it kills that kind of an option.

Well, Tampa Bay feasted on that option whenever they were on the ice with Dmitov's line

or whenever they were on the ice with Jake Evans' line while he was at center.

So it explains why some of the lines got mixed and matched, especially as you're about

to play a seven game series against this team.

Let's put up, you know, the defensive pairings for the Tampa Bay Lightning here.

Big shout out.

We're really face off for putting this together with there are always great resource when

it comes to line combinations.

What about the advantage here?

I mean, JJ Moser, perhaps one of the more underrated unspoken defenseman in the NHL,

Darren Radish is having a career year.

Ryan McDonough getting a little bit longer in the tooth.

Still no word.

I had a chance to speak with TSN Hawking Center Darren Dregor on on Friday.

Listen, I mean, it's hard for these insiders to kind of dig in on Victor Headman because

he's out for personal reasons, but yeah, you don't want to do that.

Yeah, I don't think there's big expectations in terms of seeing him in game one to be determined

or in this series, but we'll leave that kind of on the on the periphery for now.

Let's talk about here how the Montreal Canadians are their holes are their weaknesses where

the Canadian speed and skill can overwhelm the three pairs on defense for the Tampa Bay

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You know, when when tap a bay traded surgechev to Utah and they got JJ Moser and Connor

Geeky, I thought to myself, that's a trade that's going to look good for both teams.

And I think that's exactly what you've seen from JJ Moser being able to elevate along

with Darren Raddish in the absence of Victor Headman.

I think that's a really strong top pair.

And then McDonald's hernac is as good a shutdown pair as you can get.

But that's the line, or sorry, that's the pairing that I believe you can take advantage

of from pure speed because they're big, but they're not as well.

I mean, McDonald obviously was drafted in 2007.

He's been in the league almost for almost 16 years.

It's normal that he's not exactly, you know, a spring chicken when it comes to his skating,

but it's hernac is not the most mobile either.

And I feel like that's a line that's a pairing that could be taken advantage of from a speed perspective.

But that being said, this is also the kind of pairing that's going to force you to have to pay the price

to get to the high danger areas.

And that is where I believe this game, this series will be played.

Will the Canadians pay the price?

Because outside of the power play, they've been a periphery team at five on five.

We saw it against Philly, we saw it against Columbus, even against the islanders.

They were mostly a periphery team.

So it's down the stretch, even their eight games, very opportunistic on the rush kind of offense.

But when it comes to established zone time, very difficult to get to those high danger areas, get those greasy goals.

And I feel like that's probably what's going to make the difference in this series.

And it's what's going to cut, you know, you're going to have to see the Canadians, you know, change the way that they play in that regard.

Because we see them make five, six, seven, eight passes in the offensive zone to try and find the perfect play.

That's not always possible in the playoffs, because of how wide a box teams play and how, you know, they then collapse onto their goalie or onto the slot makes it very difficult.

So those are the two pairings I watch for.

Obviously, a dash two and Lillberg are going to be the pair that they could, you know, they won't have the home ice advantage against Tampa in the first two games.

But at home, that would be the line that you would feast on or the pairing you would feast on.

So it would be interesting to me how they go about matching up because Moser and Radish, even if they're paired with, you know, like campus third line, you have to watch out for Radish.

Radish has been lights out this season.

I believe for 23 goals, just an absolute ridiculous season from him.

So they're going to have to watch out this to me is a more fleshed out defensive core than the Montreal Canadians.

But I think you can make the argument that losing no adopson is a, you know, even though tapas without headmen losing no adopson would have changed that conversation just a little bit.

The Montreal Canadians and Tampa Bay Lightning split their four game regular season series, Montreal won the final two encounters down the stretch, beating Tampa Bay four to one in Florida at the end of March.

And then that tightly contested game at the Bell Center on April the ninth, outscoring them six to two over those two games.

What's interesting to me is the Tampa Bay Lightning down the final, more or less third of their season, if kind of been a 500 team.

Jakob Dobesh has had a better expected goals, save percentage than Andre Vesaleski has.

We'll talk about the goal tending in a second.

I'm curious about how much stock you put into the final two games that Montreal won and how Tampa Bay granted they were.

I mean, top three men games lost due to injury of all the teams in the national hockey league.

So how much weight and stock do you put in that when you're trying to handicap this series and whether Montreal can prevail as big underdogs?

I mean, I feel like Tampa's record is is obviously swayed or at least the trap, in my opinion, based on that, I feel like they're not getting enough respect.

But that being said, I feel like Montreal is right there in terms of their ability to play against Tampa.

They're a team if there was a team that was built to be able to play against Tampa, the Montreal Canadians are right there with them in terms of that style of play.

And they can go ahead to head in terms of the North South style if that's the way they want to play.

But I think where I would go or I would venture with this is, you know, goal tending is the key.

If Dobesh can continue to play the way he played down the stretch, the Canadians have a legitimate shot at this series.

But Vesaleski is Vesaleski in the playoffs and we know how good he can be.

The only thing I would say and that's something to keep in a consideration is Tampa in the playoffs in Tampa, not always a magical thing of late, especially since the COVID years, right?

So maybe something to keep an eye on.

It's no longer the advantage that used to be in that bar.

And especially if they don't region lock the tickets, you know, see many Canadian fans in Tampa Bay for that game.

I think the one thing that continues to get to me with this team is quality depth.

You know, the third line on Tampa Bay that we saw that had, I apologize, I forget his name now.

Gurgonsons, Gord and Nick Paul, that is a legitimate championship style, third line, a shutdown line that could hurt you both sides of the ice.

And I just feel like that, that third line really kind of matched up against any line on the Canadians one through four would be able to be effective at worst from a defensive perspective.

And I think once that line comes off and you're able to have the luxury of playing either Sirelli's line or points line, that's where the line cycle game and the coaching is really going to come into it.

And this is going to be just as much a test for the players on the Montreal Canadians is going to be a test for where Martin St. Louis is at as a coach, because that's where the next step is taken is being able to go toe to toe with the best coaches in the NHL and, you know, meet them strategy for strategy.

Thanks to moneypuck.com for doing a bang up job as always for those that like the advanced analytics, Yakub Dolbish.

If you're watching this video, you can see we're talking about goal safe above expected your NHL leaders.

This over the course of the duration of the season.

The list is, you know, rattle off the top eight Logan Thompson Jeremy Swamon, Ilius Arroken at number four is Andre Vasilevsky at number eight is Yakub Dolbish.

As you alluded to previously, Andre Vasilevsky has more than just earned your respect in terms of looking at him as a massive difference maker here.

What about the way Yakub Dolbish has played down the stretch since the hiring of Marco Marchiano, since the demotion of Sam Montibaud to the number three string goal center for this organization, this young man from the Ohio State University has done nothing but level up his game.

You're read on Yakub Dolbish being a massive the potential Marco of a massive difference maker in this series again off the heels of you talking about the potency, the depth of what Tampa Bay can bring it forward.

If Yakub Dolbish can play the way he did in the final two regular season meetings against the lightning buckle up friends because this could be a very special series.

Well, that's basically, you know, we're talking about Canadians and their contender status, a lot of it.

Wade on whether or not Yakub Dolbish.

Would be able to maintain the play that he had and obviously finished the season style, maybe not against Tampa, but one game out of in a month is not the end of the world, what I would say.

Dolbish played with more confidence was more controlled in his movement was more confident in his push out to challenge the forwards, he played bigger.

You felt less desperation in his play and more confidence in the way that he was able to attack the plays and I think that intimidated the opposition and it gave the Canadians the best chance at winning.

And again, if the Canadians are going to win this series, if then you absolutely have to get, you know, above average cool attending from Yakub Dolbish.

And I know of course you're going to need that again with the team that has a Vesna winner and probably the Vesna winner for this season in Andre Vaisalowski.

But I think more so than that, those timely saves the steals, that's what you're going to need because again, often times when teams go in a run, it's because their goalies get hot and I'm speaking to the choir here when I speak when I talk to this fan base about young gold tenders catching fire in the playoffs and putting their team is on their backs.

I think the Canadians necessarily need that goalie going on being on fire and putting them on their backs because they do have a really good young offensive core.

But in terms of their defensive ability, a guy like Yakub Dolbish shielded a lot of the holes in their defensive structure and if they're going to get by a team like Tampa Bay, I feel like he's going to have to do it again.

Is it fair to suggest going into this series that, you know, just riffing off, you know, the read on gold tending, I think we all understand that.

So the importance of power place, you know, the last meeting the Canadians had seven man advantages, the lighting had five.

I mean, when we look back on this series, how important do you think special teams are going to play as a role in determining who wins.

Well, special teams are huge in the playoffs and I felt like the power play absolutely was a little too indecisive for my liking needed more of that killer instinct needed more of a net from presence, all that.

But on the penalty kill that was greatly improved from Montreal, Canadian side, and I felt like they didn't give Tampa much of anything when they played on the penalty kill either because of that renewed energy that they play with at the high levels of the point and the how the hybrid kind of zone defense.

Their onwork work out for them when being able to counter some of them and really kind of kill those passing lanes timely, you know slides on the ice.

Proper stick checks and being aggressive on the stick on the, on the puck carrier.

Because that's what creates turnovers. And that's what we saw go the other way a guy like Jo Volano, who is not projected to be in the starting lineup.

As of right now, I was purely indicative of that,

but again, guys like Josh Anderson,

Jake Evans filled the know,

and we'll see who kind of fills out that rotation,

maybe Alex Newhook.

I feel like those guys will be able to help

in that regard for sure.

I couldn't help but think, you know,

thinking about today's episode,

thinking about handicapping this series,

thinking about paths that the Canadians could take

that give them a credible legitimate chance

at pulling off a sizable upset here,

because that's what that is.

I think in my own opinion,

across the board of the eight series,

shared across the NHL playoff landscape to me,

this is the most interesting series

of the entirety of the first round.

And there was part of me, Marco,

that was thinking about,

obviously the Canadians number one line

is as dangerous as it gets.

And I'm thinking about X factors, right?

I mean, to go to state the obvious,

the Canadians number one line,

if they could do some damage,

you know, the Canadians have a great shot here.

And that includes a guy like Eurasia of Koski.

But if there's a way, you know,

you think about the way, you know,

he shields the puck, strong arms guys, dominant,

the way he's played internationally

for his country's team at multiple Olympics.

And I'm not saying, you know,

he had an unbelievable season,

you could call it a breakthrough with 30 goals.

If he can channel team Slovakia into his game

with the Montreal Canadians,

his club team against the Tampa Bay Lighting,

I can't help but think about how important a guy like that is.

And we haven't even spoken about 93 in this episode.

But how important a guy like Eurasia of Koski

is going to be in terms of dealing with the size

of the Tampa Bay Lighting defense.

Yeah, absolutely.

He's the kind of guy that's going to be able to elevate

in those kinds of situations

because, you know, he plays with that rare combination

of size and skill.

And his skating has caught up this season as well.

So you get the total power forward package.

And if Josh Anderson is seen as a player

that's going to be hyper important for this team,

Eurasia of Koski is going to be right there.

And I feel like he'll be that difference maker

on that top line because if they're matched up

in a shutdown role to any of the two lines on the top six,

he's going to be the one to impose himself physically.

He's going to be the one to maintain possession

in the offensive zone and create space for the first teammates.

And it's not like we haven't seen this before.

I felt like we started seeing the very instances

of this Eurasia of Koski that we have right now.

Last year's playoffs when he was very effective

in terms of his own entries, puck protection,

and being able to be that Johnny on the spot

one timer on the power play.

Let's wrap it up.

The first round series begins on Sunday.

We will be live at McLean's public house,

starting at five o'clock.

Get there early, come celebrate,

come have a drink, come let loose,

and let the playoff fever take you over

at one of the best establishments

to watch the game from.

Come check out starting to make a live at McLean's public house

on Peel Street in the heart of downtown Montreal.

Marco and I will be there live on youtube.com.

If you can't make it into house,

because I know Marco, I remember we're worldwide.

Prediction time, you know, to cut it short here.

I want to see the Montreal Canadians look like they belong,

like they belong.

And I believe, they believe that they belong in this series.

The Montreal Canadians in seven games

to dispatch at the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Thank you very much.

I just feel like the depth for Tampa Bay

and their strength down the middle

is probably going to win out

over the course of a seven game series.

I still think it goes to seven games, absolutely.

I think this is going to be a really entertaining series

and a series that's going to put the Montreal Canadians

on the contention map,

but I think it's Tampa in seven.

All right, friends, it should be a great series.

I think we're all pretty much ready for it.

And we hope to see you at McLean's public house.

Sunday at five o'clock for you,

the playoff edition of the live version of star and amico.

We'll see you Sunday.

Combine, say hi.

We'll be upstairs in the mezzanine.

Don't be shy.

All right, Marco.

We'll see you Sunday, live in McLean's.

Have a good day, everybody.

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