Drama Rodgers (Hour 2)

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The all-new season of the Kardashians premieres May 23rd streaming on Hulu. Yo, yo, hour number two of our radio program. Rockin' and rollin' it is the Zach Elb show on the Infinity Sports Network.

If you missed any of our conversation with Mac Brown, you can go back on the free Odyssey app, use the rewind function, and listen back to the program from 20 minutes ago. Johnny Lazarus, NHL analyst, will be joining us in-studio 20 minutes from now. Game one of the Easter Conference Finals does commence tonight. And I'll be in attendance at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, for little Rangers and Panthers. And then you do have, later in the week, we had Pete DeBoer on, the head coach of the Dallas Stars yesterday, and always loved my conversation with him.

How about Pete DeBoer talking about how he drinks Tito's with a little splash of lime to get through the Stanley Cup playoffs? I thought that was a very good line yesterday from the Stars coach. And that series is really going to be defined by if Dallas could stay out of the penalty box. They had the number one PK in the league this year, but Edmonton has the number one power play. I like the Stars to win in that series, and I will take my Rangers to win in seven games. But, and I said it going in, I thought the Panthers were the best team in hockey, so you could literally flip a coin here to determine who's going to win this series.

I think these two teams are splitting hairs, and I believe the Final Four, right, the Easter Conference Final and the Western Conference Final are going to be sensational in pucks. Bart Winkler going to stop by 40 minutes from now for little Winkler Wednesdays, and we will get back into the NBA right at 5 p.m. Eastern time with Antonio Daniels, great serious XMBA radio host, and also played in the NBA for a bunch of years. But, I'm perusing Twitter yesterday, and on Twitter, I saw a lot yesterday about Aaron Rodgers. They're doing like slow-mos of Aaron Rodgers running around on a practice field in shorts and a t-shirt, and then throwing the ball down the field. Ooh, and ah, it's just the stupidity and jackassery of OTAs where we all obsess about a future Hall of Famer getting back on the practice field and throwing a football.

Oh, gee golly. I thought the most entertaining thing from OTAs yesterday with gang green was actually Aaron Rodgers revealing that he had a choice to make, and that was either be Vice President or try to be Vice President and run with RFK Jr., or go play football. Like, here's the funny part to me about Aaron Rodgers, Stu, and Stu, you usually call out when people could be a hypocrite. Wasn't Aaron Rodgers the same dude that said we need to eliminate distractions in the building? Right? Yes, that is him. Same guy.

Yep. So, Roger says that, and this entire offseason, and I'm okay with athletes talking about things that aren't football related, but you can't be the, oh, go eliminate distraction guys, and we've got to clean up the culture in the New York, New Jersey area with the Jets, and then every single day, you're on a podcast, you're getting linked to something, and there's rumors about this. This dude just loves the attention. And there's people in life that are attention whores, right?

And that's okay. But Rogers, he's the guy that loves the attention and loves the drama. And then when you call him out on it, and you go, oh, you love the attention and you love the drama, he's like, I'm just being me, bro. I'm just doing me. People just think, because my beliefs are different, that I'm a problem. No, you're just, you're providing things that don't need to be said.

When you are the guy that said eliminate distractions. Like everyone remembers this story about you potentially, I can't even believe we're saying this, being Vice President. We all remember the story.

No one has thought of that story since then. I know it's a press conference, you got the New York media, so they're going to ask him about it. But you can nip that in the bud real quick by just saying I'm only talking about football matters.

Football, football, football, football. But Rogers can't help himself. It'd be like if Kim Kardashian, right, if we had her in studio. Hey, it's the Zach Gelb show with Kim Kardashian. Kim, you love the attention, right? Oh no, Zach, I don't actually like the attention.

Like, could you imagine Kim Kardashian saying she doesn't like attention and drama? But that's what Rogers kinds of does. He says we need to eliminate all these distractions, and then all he's done this offseason has put himself in the news. So, yesterday, Rogers gets back on the practice field, which is good to see, because he's coming off the Achilles injury. I'd rather have Aaron Rogers on the field than not on the field. I don't want him being Vice President of the United States, God forbid. Could you imagine Rogers actually being Vice President of the United States? We would all have to do ayahuasca. You know, maybe it won't be that bad.

I've never tried ayahuasca. But if Rogers became Vice President of the United States, I would have to try some ayahuasca. But with the whole Rogers situation, I think he's going to have a monster season individually.

I do. Now, that Jets offensive line is questionable, even with the additions they made. It's going to be Rogers, it's going to be Kirk Cousins, both coming off Achilles injury. They're vying for comeback player of the year. That's what they are.

And I said at the minute he got hurt last year, I think Rogers is going to bounce back next year and be comeback player of the year. Because even though the Jets are the Jets, right? And everyone says same old Jets like death taxes, same old Jets. Death taxes, same old Cowboys. Death taxes, sorry Stu, same old Raiders.

There's just certain teams that it's the same old and then you could just insert the team name. But the Jets have a damn good team. Garrett Wilson, damn good wide receiver. Bryce Hall, damn good running back. Sauce Gardner, damn good corner. Quinnen Williams, damn good defensive lineman.

Aaron Rodgers, damn good quarterback. But what's going to make or break this team is the offensive line. And you could go make the additions they did this offseason, where it's an improved offensive line, but can the offensive line stay healthy? And if you're able to give Rogers a little bit of time, the Jets have potential to go to an AFC Championship game this year. They do.

I'm not telling you they are. But I think that's the Jets ceiling. I know the Jets have one of the better rosters in the league. I can't envision the Jets in a Super Bowl. I know my buddy Jake Assmann, who's like a huge Jet fan and does a bunch of national radio. And when we go out for dinner in the city, he'll be like, why can't you say the Jets can't be a team that goes to the Super Bowl?

I just don't feel it. I think they're going to be very good. But I think their ceiling is going to an AFC Championship game and losing in the AFC Championship game. Or being like a 9-8 team that misses out in the postseason. Nothing will really surprise me with the Jets this year, outside of them actually getting to the Super Bowl and hoisting that Lombardi trophy.

But they have a good team. And I'm seeing some of these reports from OTAs yesterday. See, I feel bad for someone like a Connor Hughes, who, it's his job, a lot of people would love to do what Connor Hughes does for a living. And he's a very good NFL reporter here locally in New York for SNY covering the Jets and the Giants. But he has to go to OTAs yesterday. And he has to write a story.

And I'm going to make fun of Connor Hughes' story right now, but Connor's just doing his job. But when you're typing Aaron Rodgers was surgical, Garrett Wilson dynamic, and Sauce Gardner sounds ready to travel. Reports from Jets First Media Open OTAs.

Click here. It's like, come on. Everyone yesterday slobbering over Aaron Rodgers and what he did on a football field in practice.

That's when it gets a little insufferable for me. However, Aaron Rodgers brings Jets fans hope. He brings optimism. Because it ain't Zach Wilson. And it ain't Sam Darnold. And it ain't all those other bad crappy quarterbacks that the Jets have had for so many years. Rodgers, like him or not, great quarterback. Has his career been a little bit disappointing when you only won one Super Bowl and it was early in your career and you haven't got back to another one and you had many other opportunities to get there?

Yeah. It's unfulfilling, but he's a top 10, top 15 quarterback of all time. He's going to the Hall of Fame.

And when we say he's only won one, there's a lot of guys that would only want to win one championship. So Rodgers brings the Jets hope. And I think they could be anywhere from a team that just misses out in the playoffs or a team that's in the AFC Championship game. That's how wide ranging the AFC is and how good the AFC is. Like the Bills I think are going to be better when people expect. We'll see if the Dolphins can put it all together.

You know the Jets are going to be solid. The AFC North, all four of those teams can win that division. That's how good the AFC North is.

The AFC South, that's a damn good division too. I expect the Jags to bounce back. The Texans are going to be really damn good. The Colts were good last year without their quarterback. You know, Tennessee had a nice offseason. We'll see the hardball effect in the AFC West. You know Mahomes is Mahomes, he's the standard. But there's going to be some good teams that are missing out on the postseason this year in the AFC. But Rodgers brings, even though I'm having fun with the inane reports from training camp, Rodgers brings hope to Jets fans. So with that being said, who is a player entering this NFL season in the NFL that brings hope and optimism to a fan base? We'll go around the room here, we'll get Boxer's opinion, we'll get Stu's opinion. I'll start off.

I think mine is fairly obvious. It's Caleb Williams. The Chicago Bears haven't had a QB in forever. Statistically, I'm not saying he's their best quarterback in franchise history, but statistically, Smokin' Jay Cutler is their best quarterback.

Like, think about that. Cutler, of the Bears statistically, they've never had a 4,000-yard passer. Never had a 4,000-yard passer. Like, Caleb Williams plays every game this year, he should have 4,000 yards this year. So, Caleb Williams is someone, number one overall pick. He gets that tag of being the transcendent, generational talent.

We'll see if he lives up to that. Because it wasn't that long ago that Trevor Lawrence had that tag, and he hasn't lived up to it yet. But you have a team that's ready to go. Like, that was a team that seven wins. They weren't the number one pick last year because of their own wrongdoing. They were the number one overall pick because they traded the pick a year ago to the Panthers, and the Panthers stunk this year. So, the Bears have a team where on offense, they beefed up the line, you have three good wide receivers, DJ Moore, you have Keenan Allen, you just drafted Roma Dunze, you got DeAndre Swift at the running back, you got Cole Kimmett at tight end.

That's a lot to work with. And I think the NFC is better than what it was last year, and I went through the wins and losses the other day, and I predicted the Bears to go 9-8. The Bears are making the playoffs in year one with Caleb Williams. And I think Caleb Williams brings hope that the Bears haven't had in a long time at the quarterback position. So, as long as he can just be above average in year one, I think the Bears are going to have a season that's going to bring even more and more hope and even more and more excitement at the end of the year for 2025. So, Caleb Williams is my player with the Bears.

Stu, who do you got? Mine is Kirk Cousins of the Atlanta Falcons. I think the Falcons at a 7-10 last year, they showed that they have the building blocks to be a good team, they just needed a quarterback. And now, hopefully he's healthy, but if he's healthy, I think you have a quarterback and that kind of puts them, you know, easy division, they should be the best team in the NFC South by far.

And I also think they can compete for the NFC if things break right, but just having that quarterback I think will be so key for them. By the way, when we're streaming with the cameras, nothing's wrong, but I'm looking at you and I'm looking completely off camera. But isn't it awkward when you're talking, if I turned and now the people that are watching on YouTube, they see me looking right in the camera, but it looks like I'm not listening to anything you're saying if you were talking. Yeah, you're just drifting and looking away from me. Yeah, so if I'm ever doing that where I'm looking dead on at this camera, I'm not ignoring what you're saying. Now, if Samter was standing there, then you'd ignore it. Yeah, honestly, I would barely even see him, quite frankly, so I could just look straight there. But Stu's a little bit taller, stands up a lot more than Samter's usually sitting down slouched over. He stands. He's just short.

Oh, sorry about that. How tall are you? Like 5'6", 5'7". I'm not that tall.

Really? Yeah. I thought you were like 5'8". No, I'm probably like 5'7". So you're 5'7", so you're 5'6", 5'6-and-a-half.

Yeah, that's why I said that, yeah. Yeah, Botcher, how tall are you? I am 5'6-and-three-quarters. 5'6", see.

The three-quarters matters. See, that's a legitimate height because like Stu's like, oh, I'm probably 5'7". Yeah, on my license, I'm 5'8". On my license, I'm 6'2". And I'm taller than 6'2", I'm 6'4". But when you give me, what did you say, 5'6-and-three-quarters? 5'6-and-three-quarters. I can't mess with that height because that is such a specific height, it has to be true.

It was a couple years ago, so it might be off. Now, you think you shrunk a little bit? No, the other way, I think I got taller a little bit. I don't know, usually when you get older, you shrink a little bit. I'm not that old.

Yeah, that's true. Botcher, people think I'm young. I found out today Botcher's 22.

Ugh. Twenty-two? I thought he was 24. So it's not that far off, but I didn't know you were 22. When did you graduate college?

Well, I graduated the fall of 22. Man. You know, Ryan Botcher, pro's pro.

Really is. He's rising to the ranks here at the Infinity Sports Network. But the Kirk Cousins ones, too.

I'm so conflicted about it because I was so excited for Kirk to go to Atlanta, but now with them drafting Michael Pennock Jr., I don't want to hope that Kirk plays poorly, but I kind of want to just see Michael Pennock Jr. playing Kirk go somewhere else, but financially they're probably two years away from that. So, Botcher, who's your player that brings you a little bit of hope going into this season? What do you got cooking for us? Okay. Hear me out. Mm-hmm. Ezekiel Elliott. I'm joking. No, not being serious.

I was like, you know, I was like, I'm going to hear you out here. No, but in all actuality, Stefan Diggs takes the Texans from, eh, we could win a playoff game or two to we need to start winning now and AFC championship game, Super Bowl. Wouldn't be out of the question. And they changed his contractor. He's a free agent after this year.

It's do or die. So now you have Nico Collins. You have the tight end Dalton Schultz, and you also have Stefan Diggs and CJ shroud who I already think is the fifth best quarterback in football digs. I'm wondering how much of last year was him declining because he's getting up there in age receiver or was it him just being unhappy in the situation that he was?

And that's why you didn't see him have a hundred yard game since like October and a touchdown since the game Thanksgiving weekend up against the Eagles. But I like that because you're right. It gives the field. You're a Texans fan.

Wow. We're not just complacent off being good and just going to rest off that. We're trying to get over that hump and take advantage of it now while shrouds on a rookie deal. Good answer. I thought Diggs wasn't trying that as hard as he could.

I agree with you in Buffalo. There's no chance. He didn't have a hundred yards for the last couple of weeks. So it was since October since October. Yeah.

There's no way he's not that bad anymore. You don't drop off like that. I, well, you could, but I think it's a mixture. Botcher is what we're getting at.

Yes. It's a little decline. He may not be a top five receiver again, top seven receiver again, but I think with the motivation that I'll have this year, you'll see a drastically difference.

The bond a hundred percent. And he still was all over a thousand yards this past year. That's that's kind of crazy to believe, but it's kind of like nobody else. Like it was kind of like Jason Tatum last night up until over time you look at the statue. You're like, I had a fine night, but you knew that it wasn't actually smart to watch the game. It's that better.

Oh, never want to make those accusations, but we pretty much just did anyway. This is Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network. We'll talk some pucks on the other side with Johnny Lazarus. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. So a few years ago I was asked to go on a podcast and the name of the podcast was the locker room and it was awesome. Great podcast.

Great time. I met one of the hosts, Johnny Lazarus, and we became very friendly. We went to a few Rangers games and the playoffs a few years ago. And Johnny is a former college hockey player and now is like a big media star. He went from the locker room to end up now hosting for the NHL daily face off. And I see yesterday, cause I follow Johnny on Twitter and you know, all of his Rangers content and hockey content, it comes up and I see that they now have a top five podcasts for hockey, which is of course the blue crew pod and make sure you check it out. So now a top five podcaster in the great Johnny Lazarus joins us in studio right now as we get set to talk some playoff hockey. Johnny always great to see how you've been. I am as ecstatic as I could be. I mean, first of all, Zach, thanks for having me, especially in studio. Nice to be in person. But what's better than this, right?

It's 80 degrees and sunny in New York city. We got Eastern conference, final hockey upon us. The vibes are high and it's been, um, it's been a really fun ride this year and I appreciate the kind introduction. Yeah. Well, a lot of people when they talk hockey, they don't know the game. And I think the players pick up on that. Like we had Derek step on on the other day and you know, he could tell that I'm an actual fan and I actually watched during the year cause I watch all the ranger games, but you played hockey and I think the players pick up on that. And a lot of them that you grew up in, some of them you played up against and played with, but your questions, I think the players really do appreciate and I think it creates a unique relationship around the league for you. Yeah. There are some players that, uh, you know, I try to bait them into some stuff and they, and they catch on.

But uh, you know, one that stands out, which didn't go over so well. I asked Alexi LaFreniere this year after he scored that beautiful backhand shelf breakaway or shootout move on Columbus, I asked him how many times he was going to watch that highlight that night. And he goes, probably none. Um, but you know, some guys like, you know, Nick cousins, who's on Florida, I was talking to him today and last year during the Stanley cup final, I asked him how many times he was going to watch his overtime goal against Toronto to send them to the conference final. And he was like, dude, I've been watching that like nonstop, like, you know, there are some guys who, who love to see how they look after they make a cool play. Other guys who don't. But yeah, my questions, you know, I try to always think a little bit outside the box and put myself in the situation, you know, not that I've ever been in the, in the NHL or NHL game, but you, you know, for me personally, I tend to understand what a guy was thinking in a certain spot and I could put myself in those shoes and that helps me with my questions that I form. And yeah, there are a lot of guys who, who look at me and kind of get confused as to like, people don't know me.

You know, they're like, Oh, this is like a, how do you, you know, how'd you realize this? Well, you're playing into the hockey, the hockey look right now. Yeah.

I don't know the camera is where am I looking, but I got the beard, the hair. Yeah. I'm kind of all in. But yeah, it's, it's been a really fun year.

This is my first full season covering the team. Oh really? Yeah. I remember you did last year in the post season, the NHL show for the NHL.

Yeah. I started I really started like my media career last year. You know, for the past three, four years, I've been doing it on the side with a nine to five job. Um, you know, I was working ad sales for the tennis channel up until August. So it was always just kind of a side hobby for me and you know, something I love doing obviously. And I had hoped that it would get to this point someday. Um, but that's also been for me, like in another way of appreciating it, you know, I didn't go to college to do this.

It was something that, uh, kind of came up randomly. Like my coach at the Maccabee games actually in Israel in, uh, 2016 handed me a Powerade bottle. I was like, go talk to the guys and we'll put videos on Facebook. Oh, that's how my, he was like, kids, let's be real.

You're not going to the pros. We need you to start interviewing people. We're looking at the future. That's pretty neat. That's how it started. Yeah.

It's pretty wild. Johnny Lazarus here with us. All right, let's get to the Easter conference final. I know you'll be in the building tonight, covering it, talking to all the players after the game and the coaches. I'll be in there as well, but I'll be in a luxury box drinking and eating and having fun.

And hopefully the Rangers don't rip my heart out tonight. I'm coming by for some sushi in between periods by the way. Feel free. I don't know if we'll have sushi. We'll have the wings and grilled cheese and not dogs and hamburgers, but you want to stop by.

You're more than welcome. It's not my luxury box. So I'm not paying for it.

So you could stop by, take whatever you want, five finger discount, all that stuff. But this series I think is fascinating because going into the playoffs, obviously I'm rooting for the Rangers, but the Panthers to me going into this post-season pound for pound, we're the best team in the sport. Yeah. I think if you look back in February, unanimously, they were the sexiest team, right? Everyone's talking about Florida Panthers. They have a team to beat when they came into the garden in March, that was the measuring stick game. The Rangers win that game in a shootout because of the advantage that scores that beautiful Forsberg goal. And you start to feel it there that the Rangers can actually be one of those elite teams in the NHL. And now this series, there are a lot of similarities between the two teams. They have great goal tending.

Their blue lines are strong. They have the top end talent, which Carolina lacked a little bit in the last round. Like when it all came down to it, the Rangers big guns got it done. Chris Crowder, the natural hat trick, which I'm sure we'll probably get to here in a bit. It was nuts. It was insane. I thought I was going to get kicked off a plane.

Honestly watching that game. Yeah. I forgot that you were on the plane. That's crazy.

But with duct tape on the plane to the seat and I was going to get arrested when I landed. But the thing about these two teams also in a term that I got to shout out my boys at the empty headers, they threw around on their last episode last year, the Florida Panthers were that team that had like all those DVD moments, right? The championship DVD that you watch at the end of the year when they win the Stanley cup. And there's all these like, and it was unexpected. And the Rangers this year, they've had a lot of those too. I feel absolutely. You know, it's been so many games this, I forget what the numbers, I think it was 31 going into playoffs. 31 comfort behind victories.

Yeah. I can't tell you how many times, cause my dad, my uncle and I, we all text during these games. How I'm sitting there. I'm like, Oh, this game's over.

Bob O'Reilly every game day. You didn't send it to me this morning. Oh yeah. That's true.

It did come home and I was working out on my ranger playlist all ready to go. I will have to screenshot that to hopefully keep the good momentum going. But there's so many times where I'm texting with my uncle and my father and we're like, Oh, this team's dead tonight. And then they somehow find the way to win the game.

It's just, I hate to say they're a team of destiny because whoever you say is a team of destiny right now, they usually never end up winning the cup or winning the championship and they end up losing the next round. That's the vibe. But this team locker room is just so close and you, and you could tell probably better than anybody being in there on a, on pretty much a daily basis.

Yeah. I think on the flip side, I was in Florida's room today and that team is fun. They are fun.

But also the group, the cockiness, the swagger that the Panthers have, like it is, it is unmeasured to anyone else. Like it's up here. You know, I, I get the fortunate experience to be in a lot of road locker rooms that come through MSG. That's like where my hub is for daily face off.

So I'm always talking to road players and whatnot and the rooms are all different. You could feel the temperature in every single locker room and you know, Florida and Colorado are like the exact opposite of the noise level, like Colorado, they're locked in their focus. They, they take a very serious approach, not saying that Florida or New York don't, but you can just feel the vibes in certain locker rooms and the Rangers have that as well. But this team of destiny thing, which is what everyone's talking about, right? Like those moments, like the Crider, Patrick you know, Panarin to score an overtime goal, the guy that we've been so hard on to perform in the playoffs, he scores a huge goal in game three and overtime to give the Rangers a three nothing lead in the series.

You know, she's certain coming up big yet again, there's just so many different things that have happened. The overtime winner, even in game two, a game that they got out shot in a big way. And even Peter lobby let to, to go through the team. He coached the last three years in the first round, the team he won the Stanley cup with in the second round.

It's a full circle thing for him as well. He played 12 NHL games in his career. Those games were the New York Rangers. He was teammates in the Olympics with Brian Leach and Mike Richter guys who won in 94. Like there's just so many different things that have happened that make you feel like this is really the year.

All right. From a national standpoint, when you look at this series, what do you think is Johnny Leiser is the biggest key when you look at both these teams for the Panthers and then also the Rangers? Well, for the Rangers, it's going to be the same thing. It has been all playoff long and that's executed on the executing on their power play right now. The Rangers have, you know, with Colorado being eliminated, the second best power play in the NHL behind the Edmonton Oilers and their kills and their kill is even better than Florida Rangers. Better power play, better killed in Florida right now. Florida is like one for 13 on their last 13 attempts and at 22% the Rangers, I believe are at like 31.7 or 37.4 around there. But either way, it's just such a big difference right now in special teams. So the Rangers have to find a way to continue to be opportunistic in those moments where Florida, you know, listen, they have just as good of a goalie as he works a circuit and I don't want to take credit away from Igor because he's been phenomenal.

Bob is one of those guys that can also steal a game, you know, just like Igor has shown. But for Florida, I think what they need to do, which everyone seems to be talking about as well, is get the puck in deep on the Rangers defenseman and just bully the crap out of them. Because the Rangers... Do you think you need Rempe then in this series? Because it looks like they're not going to play him tonight.

It looks like it's going to be Heedle in the lineup. Yeah, so it's not going to be Rempe tonight from everything we've seen, but that doesn't mean we won't see him in game two. You know, I think you feel out the emotion of game one because Matt Rempe has been playing what, five to seven minutes a night? Yeah, not a lot.

It's tough. But depending on how much extra crap Florida stirs up after the whistles, they're a team that is not afraid to do all the extra stuff, right? Like whistle blows, they're going to push you, they're going to shove you, they're going to get in your face, they're going to try to get under your skin. And you need a guy like Rempe sometimes to answer that and to counter that. But also, you don't want to give in to that and then take a penalty and then be down man. So there's all these little things that go into it that Pierre Labulet, I'm sure by sitting Rempe in game one, wants to just feel it out. Because the worst thing that could happen is Florida comes out with all the emotion, Rempe feels that emotion in a game one where there is more emotion than most games. Because it's obviously that feel out process and he takes a dumb penalty and they're short handed.

So we'll see. So that's my biggest concern because when the Rangers had lung quests, in most series, they always had the goalie advantage. The Rangers have the Igor Shrzyserkin, in most series they have the goalie advantage.

Usually it's by a wide margin. And this one with Bobrovski, he's phenomenal. And they don't have a clear, big time goalie advantage and that's the biggest concern for me in this one. Yeah, I mean, listen, the numbers would favor Igor, but also just because he saw twice as many shots in the last round than Bobrovski did against the Boston Bruins. But with goaltending, it's not necessarily like who's going to make the most saves, it's who's going to make the timely ones, right? So if the Rangers are, let's say, down 2-0 in the second period and Igor is facing a breakaway and he stops it, that could change the whole game. And then just right from there, if the Rangers get a... Like I think actually it was in the game in March, the Rangers were down 2-0 and they get a power play and then all of a sudden they're gone.

So you need a timely save and then that's what gets the bench alive, that's what gets the team alive and then you go from there. So it's all about which way the momentum in the game is swinging for the goalie to actually have that kind of impact. And then in the Western Conference, Peter DeBoer has everything on his resume besides the Stanley Cup. The dude is just always in the Conference Finals, Vegas, the Devils. We know now with the Stars, everywhere he goes, this guy finds a way to have a deep postseason run.

And he goes up against Edmonton, who they have two top five players in the sport, the best player in the sport at McDavid, and you have Leon Drysidel. This is a series, to me, where I think a lot of people from afar that parachute in are going to pick the Oilers because of the Stars. I'm talking about... Well, that's confusing because they're playing the Stars.

Sorry, you're right. They're going to pick the Oilers compared to the Stars. And I think a lot of people that parachute in are just going to be like, oh, because of the Stars of McDavid and also Drysidel. That's what they're going to do. But I think Dallas is the better team and I think Dallas is goal tender right now.

Ottinger is playing at a ridiculous level, which wasn't the case last year. I like the Stars in the series. Yeah, I think most people do. You're right. That is very confusing. It's confusing, right?

At first I'm like, I don't think I said that part. And I'm like, oh, they're playing these. They're playing the Stars. Yeah. So we got to figure out a new word for maybe the superstars. Yeah, that works.

That helps. But like, listen, I know hockey and basketball have a completely different sort of, I guess, I can't think of the word, but the way they're played. Like the NBA best players are on the court for 42 or 48 minutes. The NHL best players are on the ice for maybe 20 to 22.

That's like one third of the game. So if you're looking at this from the outside perspective and you see McDavid and dry settle, yes, they're going to have a big impact on the series and on every game, but they're not out there the entire game. So in the moments where those two aren't on the ice, who do they got to slow down Dallas? You know, who's going to possess the puck more when those two aren't out there? It's going to be incredible.

Amazing. And the team depth in Dallas is so strong. They actually are very similar to Florida, but like in the West. So people say, you know, for ratings wise, Dallas versus Florida, wouldn't be a great final just because of the markets and whatnot, but on the ice, that product would be great.

It'd be awesome. Um, but back to your point, like something with Edmonton too, which is crazy. Shout out to Ardo Cal who tweeted this ESPN, like stats and info Edmonton's the first team in NHL history to have three players with 20 plus points in the first two rounds, Evan Bouchard, Connor McDavid and the Andrea said, Oh, Bouchard's been so good in the backend as well, but this is a strong defense, great goaltending verse high octane offense.

So what do they always say? Defense wins championships. You got to assume Dallas will find a way to slow them down. So you're picking Dallas. I have Dallas in six Dallas and say I'm rooting for Edmonton.

Okay. Cause I want, I want McDavid Rangers final like that. What would we get in that? Best player.

Big rest arena. Yeah. And Gretzky. Yeah. You're right.

You're right on that. And Rangers, I'm assuming you're taking over the Panthers. Seven.

Okay. They delivered us Mike and Ike's here. You like Mike and Ike's right?

Not against them. Could we do something fun here? What do you got? I got Mike and Ike and one will represent the stars. The other will represent the Panthers.

If you catch the stars, one, the stars will win the series. If you catch the Panthers, two at one time, I'll throw them separately. Okay.

The Panthers win the series. You in? Sure. All right. Am I catching you in my mouth or with my hand?

No, with your mouth. Oh, okay. All right.

I washed my hands somewhere. Gotcha. All right.

This is the Dallas stars. Let's see. I hope my arm is good. No, I think overhand underhand. I don't know.

I'm not a softball player. I don't know. Oh, are your teeth in today? Fake ones. Yeah.

I think if you had no teeth in there. You heard it, right? Ready?

Plastic teeth. Now this will represent the Florida Panthers. Good. You didn't catch it. I didn't want you to catch it. I didn't see that coming. I didn't see that coming. Were you trying to hit me?

No. I was trying to throw it over your head. If you hit me square in the... No, that would have been terrible.

That would have been a lawsuit. I don't want Gary. I didn't see that coming. I almost just pooped my pants. I'll throw your face.

That felt personal. Ready? I'll throw it lightly now. This is the Panthers. Please don't catch this. Good job. Good job. Rangers are going to win this season. Wasn't even on purpose.

Wasn't on purpose. He's Johnny Lizers. How could everyone find you and tune in to all the great content? Everything I do is basically on Twitter, but I would love it if you listen to my show, The Blue Crew Pod, Blue Crew Podcast, New York Rangers Show, and then my Morning Cup Hockey Show every Monday through Thursday, 9 to 10 a.m. on the daily face off YouTube channel. I'm doing hockey basically all day every day, and it's been a blast. When you get inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame one, don't even say that as a broadcaster. That'd be a dream. I think I deserve a thank you or two.

You are one of my OGs. We went to Game 2 Rangers Carolina together two years ago. That's right. A lot of game.

Great game. Mustang Harries before. Mustang Harries. And we met that. Who was that guy? Joe or something.

There was some older dude, Joe, who paid for the whole meal. I don't even remember. Yeah, it wasn't one of my friends. I thought it was. I thought you knew the guy. It was a Joe and.

Oh, we were with AJ and Alex and their dad. Yeah. Yeah.

Castiglios. Yeah. No, but it was some other guy from.

I think Cody's friend. Joe. You know, something like that. The guy picked up the entire. Beauty. Just follow me on Twitter.

UFO Joe. That's what he said. Beauty. But yeah, that's the best part of this, though. The Ranger fans in the community has been you know, we know Rangers Twitter can be a little bit crazy, but everyone that's out and about having a good time will do another watch party for game six series at American Whiskey. So if you're around, it's Saturday night, June 1st. So that'd be fun.

It was a great, great showing last time. But yeah. Yeah. So you have me here. Well, appreciate you coming in. He's Johnny Lazarus.

If you don't follow him, make sure you follow him because he is to me, the social media voice of hockey is the way that I will say it. Let's get the latest Infinity Sports Network update in with many Rodriguez worried about letting someone else pick out the perfect avocado for your perfect. Impress them on the third date guacamole. Well, good thing instacart shoppers are as picky as you are. They find ripe avocados like it's their guac on the line. They are milk expiration date detectives.

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They're quitters. What a joke Bart. Something fun to talk about. That's that's what we do here. It's like, Hey guys, it's like we're just hanging out at a bar talking sports. It's time for Winkler Wednesday, only on the Zach Gelb show. All right. It is a Winkler Wednesday, Bart Winkler here with us on the Zach Gelb show.

Bart, I've been thoroughly enjoying following you on Twitter the last two or three days more than ever before, because I love your love for the Minnesota timber walls. And I'm also amused by the way that you are trying to start this beef with Indiana Pacers and their fans. So explain to me the origins here of your animosity with the Pacers, just as simple because the Bucks lost to them in the first round. Yes. Okay, but there's more, there's more.

There's more. So I'm a Bucks fan, right? Yeah. That's that's canon.

That's lore. You got Bucks lost. You're from Milwaukee.

Never heard that, by the way. Yeah. And then one year, the Miami Heat beat the Bucks in a series and that sucked. But then the Miami Heat got to the finals in the East and took on the Boston Celtics and Bucks fans, just like Knicks fans, just like pretty much any fan base in the East. You're not going to root for the Celtics if you don't have to.

Okay. So but I didn't know what to do because so many times if you beat the Bucks, you're going to the finals. That's what's happened like the last six years. So I didn't know who to root for. I watched the TV the first night and I thought I said to myself, there's no way I'm rooting for the Heat. There's no way because the Heat, even though they beat my team, you know, they're still they're still working hard. They're still they're doing a good job.

They're respectful of their opposition. With this playoffs, not only am I rooting against the Pacers, I'm rooting for the Celtics in a way that I never knew I would. And I'm fist pumping Jalen Brown. I'm Al Horford's three of 13 from three.

I'm like, keep shooting Al, you'll get you'll get one. I don't like what has happened with the Indiana Pacers. If you know me, and if you learn me, there's two traits that I find very valuable in humans. And that is genuine people and people that can stay humble. And I don't think the Pacers had any of that. Last night.

Oh, they were they were very, very respectful. Okay, if they lose on Thursday, Carlisle is going to go right back to complaining about something. Oh, celebrating every shot like he just got the first H in the game of horse. Like relax guys like so it's it's as much that my team lost as it is that they they like yes, you got here. But you beat a broken Bucks team and a Knicks team that was a shell of itself.

You don't need to go you don't need to go to the podium and say, Hey, here's what's happened. We know we should but the way that they act on court could be a little nay, extremely better. Let me ask you this, just pick one word to describe game one between the Celtics and the Pacers. What's the one word that used to describe that game that you saw last night?

I would say it was a breakthrough. I think for Boston, because I think what I described as what they've kind of been up to the last few years is for any WWE fans. There is a particular match that is called a ladder match. Yes. And what happens in the ladder matches, the belt hangs from the ceiling. And you have to climb the ladder and grab the belt. Yeah. And sometimes those guys that get to the top of the ladder, they grab the belt and somehow they get knocked off and the belt doesn't fall off.

Yeah. And so how the match usually ends is everybody's like hurt or injured or just down for the count on the side. And then there's one guy that has the ring all to himself that can climb up the ladder and he is the champion.

And I think for the last few years, the Celtics have been that one guy. But then they like forget how to climb the ladder or get to the top and can't get the belt. Like they just, it's, it's laid out for them. It has been laid out for them for years. And this year may be more laid out than ever for them to at least get back to the finals. And I think that the resolve they showed last night and the ability to un-choke the choke job is something that we haven't seen from them. They've only played, I think like three clutch minutes prior to last night in these playoffs with it being five minutes or less in a game and the game within five.

And so we don't know how they would respond to that. And that's normally a game that the Celtics would probably blow. And they haven't been tested in that game. They're either winning by 20 or losing by 20. But for them to do that, I mean, there's three, there's eight, there's 10 seconds left. And all that the Indiana Pacers need to do is inbound and somehow Jaylen Brown makes that play. And then Drew is a good pass to him.

And then Jaylen Brown handles the ball in a way that Siakam doesn't foul. So I think that could have been a big breakthrough for them to at least mentally know that, yes, it is our time and they can do it. So I'd say breakthrough. Well, my word is disappointment. And the reason why my word is disappointment is because I was disappointed with the Pacers gagging that game away because like the Celtics are going to win this series, but I at least would want a series that gives me a little hope. And even though they played well last night, they should have won that game. They did it.

I think you're going to get a much better effort. Like you're saying from the Celtics in game two, but like the Celtics could sleepwalk through the East this year to get to the finals. So Tatum could go MIA in the fourth quarter. I know he played well in overtime, but he'd go MIA in the fourth quarter and they could still find the way to somehow win the game. I was disappointed though with Tatum because for some reasons there's been games of the postseason, the fourth where he's just not aggressive and the Pacers defense, they did a good job, but I thought what we saw from him just in the fourth quarter, it kind of like makes me think, Hmm, they get through and like they go up against Dallas or Minnesota. You know, I'm not thinking maybe the Celtics now win this thing just because the old Celtics of getting there, but not getting the job done kind of popped up in that fourth quarter for a while.

Well, but then Tatum had a good overtime. I think he made that big shot and then they have like the other thing that they've done is it's been Tatum and Brown, right? And they've been like having to change coaches for various reasons, but also trying to get better at every position.

And I think Drew had the kind of impact that he has been sorely needing in a postseason game. They're going to get better out of Derek White. They're going to get, um, better out of Al Horford.

They'll get Persingus back at some point. So they seem to be, um, I think like if you're going to have Tatum and Brown, they need to pick each other up when one of them is not performing. And they did last night. Last thing I'll ask you, Bart Winkler Winkler Wednesday, right here on the Zach Gelb show, the infinity sports network, other series, Western conference. I know you're going to take the Timberwolves because you become a Timberwolves honk. But why do you think the Timberwolves will beat the Mavs in your opinion? I'm kind of like, I kind of think the Mavs might win.

Wow. And you've been Mr. Timberwolf. Well, I took the Timberwolves before the nugget series.

So a small wager for them to win. So I'm jumping off the bandwagon now. Now you're now you're joining Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.

I don't know. Oh, there's something weird about that team. They've had, they've been together for three months. Jason Kidd, like figured out how to coach Kyrie is like, yeah, he's just the basketball player. That's Washington. He's been playing. He's Ray Allen.

I don't know what is going on. I would probably say a Timberwolf still, but there's no chance, no way more so because the Mavs don't know how to do it. That this series goes less than six. This will be a good series. Yeah, but I think so. Minnesota's got to get, they got to get off.

They got to get it right tonight first. He is Bart Winkler, the host of the Bart Winkler show. You can listen to weekdays right here on the infinity sports network from 10 PM to 2 AM. Very nice hat today. Bart, you look like you could be a NASCAR driver. You know, NASCAR hats are pretty dope. If I, if that's a word people use any fights like what we saw over the weekend with those two fighters. I understand dude, road rage is real and getting worse.

So I get if there's going to be any sport where you want to fight after why it would be NASCAR. He is Bart Winkler. Listen to him tonight. Bart. Thank you.

Thank you. There you go. Bart Winkler joining us. We'll go from Bart to Antonio Daniels next as we'll talk all the craziness going on in the NBA. The wait is over.

That's right. Season five of the Kardashians is here. Just when you thought life couldn't get any faster, they're punching it into overdrive. Chris Courtney, Kim, Chloe, Kendall and Kylie are back and continue to defy expectations in all their endeavors. So get ready to go behind the glitz and glamour of the most iconic family on television.

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