After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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I don't know. I can't read who it's from, but it comes from Oakland, California. Addressed to Amy Von Lawrence, and it's a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year card. So that's nice. Von Lawrence? Wait, hold on. There's more.

Amy Von Lawrence. I'm not joking. Are you looking at the fact that we now have Christmas mail?

Where did those come from? I just told you. Corporate somehow had it. It's been in a pile of mail somewhere. It wasn't a huge priority to send the mail. I've seen our mailbox before Christmas. I check it. Well, I check it multiple times a month.

I don't check it that often because we don't get a lot of mail here, but I do check it because sometimes books show up and authors are looking for an opportunity to talk about their books on the show. Well, here's another one from Jim, a listener that I do hear from a couple times a year. He was very kind after my Grammy Helen passed away. He made a Christmas ornament out of one of her photos. No joke.

This literally is a season's greeting Christmas card, and it's signed, this Christmas, I'm sending a blah, blah, blah to you. Okay. Nice.

Let's see. There's more. Here's another one.

Another one that says it's got camels and wise men. Happy holiday season. All right. Good to know. Let's see. Hold on.

There's more, uh, best wishes to you in 2023. Wait a minute. Come on. That can't be true, right? This says December 6th, 2022.

I just looked at the date, December 6th, 2022. That can't be possible. No, no. Somehow these must have gotten lost somewhere.

There's no way, no way. They just put them in the mailbox now from 2022, but I'm telling you, I just opened the mailbox and there, there were things right there. Where were those? These are two unopened. Yeah. See, there's, these are not opened. So there's no way that I could have been like, Hey, I opened them and then I'm a stuffed them back in the box or I left them on a table somewhere.

No, they're not opened which somewhere just, no, it does literally came out of the abyss. Yeah. I don't know the dates on these. Let's see. This one is yeah. No joke. December 3rd, 2022. Jay it's not open.

It's not like I got it opened it, left it and, and someone found it somewhere. No, it's dated December, 2022. Okay. Well clearly these were top priority. I just want you to know if you sent me any mail in the late stages of 2022, I apologize profusely that I didn't respond because I never got it.

I'm just starting as to what was happening then and what happened like yesterday with her. Oh, here are all the packages. You opened up the locker to get your headphones, correct? Yeah, correct. Did you see the two big envelopes that are right inside the door? I guess I did thinking about it now, but I didn't think anything of it.

That's what this is. And tucked in between the two is a, is this group of Christmas cards from 2022. So how did that get in there?

All right. What an interesting way to start the show. And speaking of interesting, you're not going to believe what I stumbled across.

Actually, I got to give credit to the dog. Daisy found a very interesting discovery. She made an interesting discovery in our backyard. When I was mowing the lawn, she was standing over a hole in the ground and oh yeah, it was, wow. It's something I've never seen before. To be perfectly honest, never seen it before. So I can't wait. I took pictures.

It wasn't a danger to me, I don't think. And so I took some photos and I can't wait to share them, but yes, it was quite the discovery. I was a little bit shocked and now I don't really know what to do. Bob and I are trying to figure out what to do. Anyway, you'll appreciate the story, I think, and maybe we'll have people who weigh in about what our next steps should be.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You'll need my Twitter, of course, at ALawRadio. And also our Facebook page named after the show, Easy Peasy. Our phone number is 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Coming up in 30 minutes, Jack Michaels, the play-by-play voice, long-time radio play-by-play, sometimes TV play-by-play voice of the Edmonton Oilers. They advance past the Vancouver Canucks. They survive the young and, I would say, spirited Canucks.

A late challenge, even though Edmonton is the more veteran experience team with higher expectations. Vancouver refused to go quietly. I do love that because I'm generally someone who makes a lot of noise. I don't go quietly either, ever, anywhere. Not even leaving the house at night when I come to work. And so I feel kind of guilty sometimes because Bob is attempting to sleep and I'm accidentally banging around in the kitchen.

Right. I mean to be quiet, but somehow something will fall out of the medicine cabinet and clatter in the sink. Or I'll accidentally step on the noisiest part of one of the steps as I'm going downstairs.

It's always so much louder at night when people are trying to sleep. So, I got a story about the backyard. I've got game seven drama for Vancouver and Edmonton and Jack Michaels who will join us as the team will be heading home and getting ready for the Western Conference Finals against Dallas. And how about that? In the Dallas Metro, DFW if you will, you've got both the Mavericks and the Stars in the Western Conference Finals.

That's kind of fun. So we're looking forward to not only wrapping up this round and moving on to the Final Four in both hoops and hockey, but the stakes get increasingly higher. And of course that means the tension is also on the rise. I can feel it in my gut. Game sevens. I asked you all not that long ago, is there a better phrase in sports than game seven? And some of you came up with sudden death over time. Now we didn't have that, although we came close.

So yes, find us on Twitter and Facebook. We were thinking about a potential show question and Jay and I were tossing around some ideas. I like one of the ones that Jay came up with. I think this is interesting, especially since we just came through a 48 hour period with three game sevens. If you're starting a franchise, no, no, no, no, not the one. You don't have to start a franchise. You just have to start a game seven. You just have to start and win a game seven. Who is the one athlete in any sport you want on your team for a winner take all game? For a game seven, whether it's the championship, whether it's advancing to the next round like the Oilers had to, whatever the sport, it can be baseball, it can be hockey, it can be hoops. I suppose if what you want to do is win a winner take all game in football, well then we could call it a conference championship, whatever it is. It's just more fun if we're talking about the game seven. But if you try to slip in some football names there, I won't be upset. The one athlete you want on your team, if you have to win a game seven, that is the idea, right?

Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing. So you can find our show account at Amy After Hours and you could also find us on Facebook. Producer Jay will put up a post on both of our social media and you can answer the question there. So we'll do some little analysis of what's to come between, and it's not predictions, it's just analysis of what we can expect the matchup between Dallas and Edmonton when Jack joins us.

We're really excited. I hope that he's calmed down just a tad, mostly because it's a breakneck pace and a breakneck speed. Would you like to hear his final 30 seconds?

I know we're putting Jack before the cart, Jack before the horse, but it's pretty delicious. 30 seconds to play in game seven. Hughes has to hurry. Jan-Mar bearing down. Edmonton 3, Coover 2.

Here's the finish. Holglander will chip it in from the left-hand side and Colb reverses past him. Hyman needs a clear. Pederson all over him.

12 seconds. Centered pass, one time it blocked. Rebound loose. Miller fans, the Oilers clear up the right-hand side. Hyman lost it.

Five seconds. Ronick blasts it. It was tipped into the far corner and Edmonton has won game seven. 3-2. The Oilers advance to the Western Conference final.

They'll play Dallas Thursday night. This game, this series is over. He's almost growling at us, growling in a very loud voice. It's terrific. I love that drama. And I listened to most of the game on radio, so I was listening to Jack, anticipating that he would join us here on the show. Now, the Oilers had to win for him to agree, so I'm glad that we're able to snag him. And again, he'll join us in a couple of minutes.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Coming up on Tuesday, we get into the final four in hoops. It's the Pacers at the Celtics. Maybe we'll take one more day off. Well, we'll take a day off, I should say. The Panthers and Rangers begin at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

So now there are fewer games, but of course they are higher stakes, as I said. So we're looking forward to each of these series. In fact, maybe we can do a poll. Should we do a poll in addition to a show question?

I don't see why not. Best series of the final four. Panthers at Rangers, Oilers at Stars.

Ooh, Dallas gets two submissions. Mavericks and Timberwolves, Pacers and Celtics. Which one goes to a game seven? Most likely to go to a game seven. How about that? Most likely to go to a game seven among those.

Or should we do more preference? As in which one? Most buzz? Huh. I'll leave it up to producer Jay. We've thrown some ideas out there for sure.

Hey, I did post on social earlier tonight because this cracked me up. I got a text from my mom who couldn't name two WNBA players a week ago. Quote, I like watching the fever play!

Exclamation point. Then get this, unbeknownst to her, she's sleeping. Actually, she might not be sleeping.

She is a pretty late night owl, but she's likely not listening to the show because her husband is sleeping. Mike is texting me, unbeknownst to my mom, telling me that she was jumping up and clapping in the fourth quarter as the fever were rallying against the sun to take the lead multiple times. It was a pretty impressive display by the fever as close as they've come to a win. They never trail by double digits. The second time they faced the sun, Clark had a massive logo three in the fourth quarter. She had all of her assists in the fourth quarter and it was a really good battle. The fever are getting better even as they go through these first 12 days.

So two weeks and they have seven games in their first two weeks, so it's a lot. But my mom is all about it. So Mike tells me she's jumping up and clapping in the fourth quarter and then he's sending me links to Kaitlyn Clark jerseys.

He wants to know what I think of this one and what I think of that one. He wants to find mom a jersey that she can wear while she's watching games. All of a sudden she is the biggest Indiana Fever fan on the planet. He even researched ticket prices.

Are you ready for this? Now the closest to them would be Dallas, the Dallas Wings. So he writes to me and he says Dallas Wings tickets for a normal game, normal, whatever that is, just your typical run of the mill, regular season game. $279 each for center court behind the scorers table in row M. So not right on the court, but up behind the scorers table.

Say what? 15 rows ish. He says when the fever are in town, those same seats $759 each. They jump by nearly $500 in value when the fever are in town.

And this is what people are dealing with right now. They want to go see the fever. They're trying to find tickets when the fever get into their market, but they they're finding that the ticket prices are extremely expensive. Well, this was a home game for the fever against the sun. Great atmosphere.

And when Clark hit the logo three at a critical moment in the fourth quarter, the field house went nutso. If you haven't seen it, it's actually funny. Funny as in joy. Funny as in wow. Funny as in what an atmosphere.

I mean, I wouldn't say it's the same as Iowa women's basketball just because it's always a different feel on a college campus, but it was electric. And so, yeah, Mike is now searching for player bios at her request. So she'll ask him, who's this player or where did this player come from?

And he was looking for a jersey to give her as a gift. So you know what I decided, Jay? This is the new phrase. Are you ready? Going back to maybe hearkening a bit to those.

I don't know who uses hearkening these days. Maybe a bit of a throwback to the old pizza commercial. Little Caesars, pizza, pizza, pan pan.

Are you ready? It's fever fever. It's fever fever. People have fever fever. I had fever fever tonight. I'm not gonna lie. I watched the whole game.

So she got her first tea. We were looking last night at what channel the game was on and I didn't realize it was gonna be on national TV yet. So just assume it. I will now moving forward, but I didn't know that before it was the game was starting. So I was actually looking up Fubo TV, Fubo TV to see if I had it, to see if I could find it on streaming because I wanted to watch the game. And I was like, oh wow, it's on national TV.

Nice. But yeah, I didn't know. I was trying to stream it.

It was on national TV. Most of her games are, most of their games are, and they came very close to winning. And the neat thing is the fans are still into it. They're still supporting. It seems like they believe in the team. So yeah, the, the atmosphere tremendous. And when the fear go on the road, they're actually taking fans with them. And if it's not their own fans from Indiana, it's now fans jumping on the bandwagon all over the country. Like my mom, I really like watching the fever play.

That's so great. I'm so happy that my mom has found she was this way with the warriors. She wants to watch them all the time. Back when they were reaching their four straight NBA finals, she loved watching clay and Steph Curry. And I, if clay ends up going to Orlando, I don't know how I'm going to break it to her, but I'm going to cry. I think she would, but now that she's got fever fever, I don't know that she needs to she's getting it on the ground floor with the fever fever fever fever, right? Okay. So you'll hear from Caitlin Clark, the fever, barely, barely come up shy of beating the Connecticut sun.

You can tell they're getting better if not for a slow start, maybe they win this game. Find us on Twitter at Amy. After hours, you'll see our show question one athlete in any sport you must have on your team. If you need to win a game seven, our Facebook page is the same. And then our phone number 855-212-4227. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence.

You are listening to the after hours. You could spend the weekend doing the same old whatever, or you could conquer the weekend in the all new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for more details.

Hyundai, there's joy in every journey. Dive into the start of summer at Whole Foods Market. Check out their summer splash event with sales on fresh organic produce, organic strawberries, and a fan favorite sale on Ben and Jerry's and Tolenti. Explore deals on grill friendly meats like organic air-chilled chicken breast, beef and chicken kebabs, all with no antibiotics ever from our meat department. Plus grab easy sides from prepared foods and cool off with refreshing drinks.

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See site for details. I'm just trying to remind myself, like, I know this is my job now, but like I have fun playing this game and I think that needs to be my focus through the course of this year is just like have fun. That's when I'm at my best too.

And that's when I was at my best in college. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I got to give her credit. She remains the same. She doesn't get snippy. She doesn't get salty.

She doesn't get snarky, even when she's frustrated. And this is a lot of losing for Kaitlyn Clark, more than she's used to, but they were real competitive in tonight's game against the Connecticut Sun. They had the home crowd behind them. She's had no break at all.

And this game had a little bit of everything. She injured her ankle in the second quarter and ended up having to leave the arena. She was frustrated. She slammed either a towel or maybe it was a hand down on the bench and gets retaped, comes back out, instantly wants to go in the game. Now she missed the final, I think it was five and a half, six minutes of the second quarter, but she was back out there in the third quarter. So she was frustrated by that. Later in the game, as the Fever are battling tooth and nail with the Sun, they've come back to tie, take the lead.

It was a back and forth affair in the fourth quarter. She hits a logo three. She's fired up.

Let's go. The crowd's going crazy. A couple minutes later, she gets called for a foul that she does not agree with and earns her first technical in the WNBA.

Took all of four games. And it was funny because I think it was Ryan Ruko and Rebecca Lobo who were doing the game on ESPN. And Rebecca says something along the lines of, huh, I am surprised that she earned a technical this early in the season. Was she just speaking something into the wind or was she speaking directly to the official? And they replay it. And it's pretty clear that Caitlyn says that wasn't a bleeping foul. And Rebecca goes, oh yeah, okay. Not just speaking that into the universe. So she was fired up in this game, finished with 17 points, five assists, a technical foul, an ankle injury, and the closest the Fever have come to a win.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. Pretty neat atmosphere inside Gamebridge Field House where they were fired up in the fourth as well. I thought our crowd was great.

They rallied behind us. They gave us some great energy and I hope they continue to come back because it's going to be a fun season. We got to remember we played two of the top teams in the league and we were right there with the sun tonight and really had a few opportunities to take the lead and give ourselves a chance. The two teams they've played now, each twice, the sun and the Liberty are collectively undefeated.

So they each have a perfect record. Meanwhile, the Fever still working on that first win. Now as for the ankle, as I say, she was sitting out in the end of the first half, wanted to go back in. Coach Christy Sides chose to leave her on the bench. And also, interestingly enough, she was on the bench in the late stages of the fourth quarter as well. Not sure if that was because of the fouls, maybe the rebounding.

It was a little bit of the offense-defense substitution, which is something she's probably not used to either. All right, so ankle is now postgame conversation. It felt good. I just wanted to get a lot more tape on it as fast as I could to get back out there and playing. And it's hard, especially when I felt like I kind of started the game off good and then you get hurt and you got to sit out the last five minutes of this first half and then you got to wait half time. So kind of hard to get kind of into a flow there.

So I think it kind of took me to the end of the third quarter to kind of get back into a little bit of a flow. But yeah, I mean, ankle injuries, every basketball player's had an ankle injury. If not, you're not a true baller, I guess.

I don't know. That's true. I would agree with her there. They've come close. I like that they rebounded better in this game. They took better care of the basketball in stretches, not entirely. Still too many turnovers against the Connecticut Sun. As a team, they had 17. Now, you remember they opened the season with the Sun and had 25 turnovers, 10 of them by Kaitlyn.

In this game, she had five and the team finished with 17 overall. So still something they need to clean up. But there are obviously positives that they can take away from coming this close. Obviously, everybody's disappointed, but, you know, it's not going to do us any good to all just hang our heads and pow about why we didn't win.

It's just you got to go back and watch the film. And, you know, coach said, like, fast break points off of our turn off of points of our turnovers, points off of our boards. But at the same time, like we did a lot of really good stuff, especially in the fourth quarter. The momentum that we found, you know, we got to stop fouling at the end of shot clocks. Like they made some tough baskets on us, but we were right there. So I think it's like you got to keep your head up, but you also have to get a fire within you that is upset and, you know, not OK with, you know, losing four straight to open the air. And I think our group has that. But also there's a sense of, you know, this is helping us get better. And there's going to be a time this season where it really shows that these four games that we open the season with and, you know, it's going to pay off.

They competed, but we still have so much to work on. Like I think they scored like 20 points in the first four and a half minutes of the game. You know, we gave up several offensive rebounds early in that quarter. They went to the free throw line 30 times. You know, we've got to start defending without fouling. Jay is genuinely concerned about Kristi Sides.

I am, too. It's pretty early in the season for her to not ever voice. And you know what they do in these games? They give the coach an earpiece and then the broadcasters attempt to connect with the coach. So not standing in front of you, you can read my lips or at least you can hear me.

No, no. She's trying to hear them through an earpiece while she's on the sidelines as they start the second quarter. Poor coach is yelling at the top of her lungs. No wonder she's got a horse voice or laryngitis. She's yelling over the crowd after the first game. How about just do, I don't know, do it at the break of the quarter, not when the game's back underway. Sounds like it hurts. Yeah, seriously it does. Let's hope it does not.

Maybe start praying for her to get better. Alright, we're asking you, what's one athlete that you want on your team if you have to win a game seven? On Facebook, After Hours with Amy Lawrence, Mike says Kaitlyn Clark, of course.

That one gets a thumbs up. Also, you're going to laugh at me because another post said Wayne Gretzky on one line and then Murray on the next line. I'm thinking Murray, Jamal Murray, Murray. And then I look up and I realize the man's name is Murray.

So he, so he was essentially signing it. Wayne Gretzky, Murray. Thanks, Murray. It's Murray.

As if I couldn't see from, anyway. So yeah, who is it that you want on your team if you have to win a game seven? Wayne goes with Corey Seeger of the Texas Rangers. Yeah, he's highly decorated and before the Rangers he was the, what was it, National League Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers, right?

His first season. So on Twitter, at Amy After Hours, on our Facebook page. Coming up next, Jack Michaels, the play-by-play voice. Are you a fan of mystery and adventure? Introducing June's Journey, the captivating free-to-play mobile game that will ignite your inner detective. Play as June Parker in a thrilling murder mystery adventure as you search for hidden objects to uncover the truth behind her sister's death. Step into the glamorous world of the Roaring Twenties with stunningly illustrated scenes and over a thousand mysteries to unravel. With new chapters added weekly, you'll never run out of clues to chase and suspects to interrogate. Plus, you can build your own island escape with beautiful gardens and buildings and even join a detective club to collaborate with other players. Experience the thrill of being a detective and unravel the mystery in June's Journey.

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You're imported by Crown and Port Chicago, Illinois. The Edmonton Oilers because they just won a Game 7. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. 30 seconds to play in Game 7. Hughes has to hurry. Yedmark bearing down. Edmonton 3 Vancouver 2.

Here's the finish. Holmgrenner will chip it in from the left-hand side. Hit home reverses past him. Hyman needs a clear. Patterson all over him.

12 seconds. Center pass by Tymer blocked. Rebound loose. Miller fans. The Oilers clear up the right-hand side. Hyman lost it.

5 seconds. Ronick blasts it. It was tipped into the far corner and Edmonton has won Game 7. 3-2. The Oilers advance to the Western Conference Final. They'll play Dallas Thursday night. This game, this series is over.

I thought we played 52 great minutes. Really, really good. And then, you know what? A little mistake that's going to happen. And, you know, obviously it gets a little chaotic from there.

You know, you can expect that. I knew it was going to be a tight game. When anyone came in here thinking it was going to be some type of cakewalk. It was tight. I thought we did a good job of responding. I thought it was a great time up by Chris to settle everyone down.

From there on out, I thought it would be a real solid game. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. That is the voice of superstar Connor McDavid after the last 30 seconds of Game 7 with Jack Michaels who will join us here momentarily.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You have three goals in the second period. In fact, the first two to break that scoreless tie within four and a half minutes of each other. And then they get into the third period and Vancouver comes up with its best challenge and has a couple of potential goals that are either knocked away or just are offline. So it was dramatic.

Edmonton 8-4 all-time in Game 7. We're pleased to welcome our friend Jack Michaels as he's with the team getting ready to head home and then prepare for Game 7 against the Dallas Stars. Jack, thank you so much for a couple of minutes. We listened to your last 30 seconds. Producer Jay feels as though it's like a horse race. It's a real high tension.

How's your heart rate? Well, Edmonton, if nothing else, tends to make things interesting one way or the other. The Oilers actually played a fantastic Game 7 for about 50 minutes and then things got a little bit hairy. There was a turnover in the third period that allowed Vancouver a path back. The Canucks did what they've done all series long, all season long, is take those people who wanted to underestimate them and prove resilient and made what looked like a breeze in Game 7 into quite the frenetic finish. But Edmonton closed it out.

Chris Knoblock did an excellent job taking a timeout when the Canucks drew within 3-2. And from that point on, Amy, in the final four and a half minutes, the Canucks did not even manage a shot on goal. So Edmonton closed it out in style and now it's on to Dallas.

Survive in advance, as they say. Did it seem like the Canucks were worn out to you? I think Edmonton deserves a lot of credit. Most people look at the Oilers numbers and see them as a high-octane offensive team and with some justification. I mean, you've got McDavid and Dries settle once again over 100 points this year.

Zach Hyman put up 54 goals. Everyone loves to talk about Edmonton's offense. But what won this series for the Oilers, in my opinion, Amy, was their lockdown defense over the final two games. I mean, 15 shots against Vancouver in Game 6, just 15 shots, five a period. And then in Game 7, Vancouver had 14 shots on net with eight and a half minutes to go when the game started to slip away. And even so, Vancouver finished with 17 shots on net.

You're not going to win many games when you get 32 shots in the final two games of the series. So an underrated aspect and what I think has brought Edmonton to its second conference final in their three years is their team-wide commitment to defense, especially when their backs are against the wall. We had so many cool, dramatic moments. I'm sure they created heart palpitations for a lot of fans.

But why was this one as tight as it could possibly be? Well, Vancouver had to change its approach over the final 20 games of the season. They lost their number one goaltender and a couple of their top players went into deep offensive slumps. So they shut it down and started winning games by making the most of what opportunities they had and playing lockdown defense. They've got a big, strong defense on the back end and they were willing to play a lot of 2-1 and 3-2 games to insulate what turned out to be a rookie goaltender from Latvia, 23 years old, who has now played more playoff games than he has regular season games. And Amy, as you know, in hockey, goaltending is 90 percent of the game except when you don't have it.

And then it's everything. And with the young rookie, they wanted to lock it down. And as a result, they were able to get past Nashville scoring 13 goals in a six-game series.

That's a hard way to live. And they had to score more against Edmonton. They did. But the Oilers, I think, proved to be a better defensive club than maybe even Vancouver was expecting.

But, you know, band 50 wins 109 points. They won the division. They were in first place from December the 21st on. They earned the right to host a game seven in the second round. Edmonton's a club that, you know, got off to a dreadful start. They won two of their first 12 games. So the Oilers are a resilient bunch, too.

And when they needed to play their two best games of the year, especially at the defensive end, they did it. Jack Michaels is the play-by-play voice of the Oilers radio network, as he says, back into the West Finals for the second time in three years waiting for them, the Dallas Stars. He's with us here after game seven. Hopefully his heart rate has calmed down a bit.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. They've got some leadership that keeps them stable, keeps them resilient. Is this an achievement that they'll celebrate, or is this still taking it in stride because of expectations?

I think they're taking it in stride. I mean, you've got Connor McDavid, you've got Leondri Settle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who arguably just played the two best games of his career in game six and seven, Darnell Nurse, Matias Ekel. These are guys that have been down the road in the postseason before. You know, it's funny, Amy, when you and I first started chatting years back, the Oilers were one of the youngest clubs in the NHL. Now they're the oldest. They're battle-tested. They're one of three teams that have been to at least the second round in each of the last three years, and now they're to the Final Four for the second time in three years.

You know, they've been knocking on the door a while now. So winning a second-round series is not cause for total celebration. I think Vancouver was in a different frame of mind. The Canucks have not been anywhere near contention for the last three or four years. Their season was not going to be a failure or success based on tonight's result. For Edmonton, and especially its top players at its core that have been at this for a number of years right now, you know, Leondri Settle said it best before the end of the year, and really in the aftermath of the loss to Vegas in last year's Stanley Cup playoffs, it's a couple of busts.

For this team, their expectation is that they're going to be competing for the Stanley Cup, and that means while winning a second-round series and showing that resilience in game six and seven is nice, it's not their ultimate goal, not even close to it. I'm glad you brought up Ryan Nugent Hopkins. What made him such a difference-maker to close out this series? Well, I think, Amy, if you look at the past two post-seasons for Edmonton, you know, McDavid and Dr. Settle, and understandably so, have earned most of the accolades. I mean, two years ago, Dr. Settle played an unbelievable playoffs, averaged two points a game with a high ankle sprain for the last, you know, two rounds. McDavid, you know, won the Battle of Alberta with an overtime goal and was right there with Dr. Settle, two points a game.

They burned those accolades, and they're understandably recognized as no worse than maybe two of the three or four best players in the world. But Ryan Nugent Hopkins quietly has had, you know, some of the best careers in the history of the Edmonton Oilers. And as you know, when you and I are of a similar vintage, when you talk about one of the greatest careers in the Edmonton Oilers, you're not talking about some chump franchise. You know, I mean, you're talking about Gretzky and Messier and Anderson and Fuhrer and, I mean, there's Yari Curry, there's so many players, Paul Coffey, who's now an assistant coach for the Edmonton Oilers.

Nugent Hopkins has always been under-appreciated. He had a goal and two assists in game six, scored the game-winning goal tonight, had an assist on another goal, played lockdown defense on the penalty kill. Edmonton, right now, is performing its best on the penalty kill in the history of the franchise, 92%. Their power play, again, gets all the attention, but their penalty kill, in my opinion, has made the difference in the first two rounds of these playoffs, and Nugent Hopkins is at the forefront of that. He plays in all situations. He's as under-appreciated a player as there are in the four major professional sports. Is Shaq now a fan of the Oilers?

Absolutely. You got Shaq Hyman, and that's an old story. I mean, that goes back to when Zach Hyman was still in the minor leagues. He was affectionately referred to as Shaq Hyman, because all of his goals came from six feet in. And I'll tell you what, Abey, if you added up the total distance of his 54 goals this year, you might get to about 150 feet. He still anchors himself in the blue paint. I'm sure you've seen the clips of Shaq, you know, demonstrating a skating stride. His age could be a factor, Abey, but maybe if you add Shaq to this club, give him four or five minutes a night down in the blue paint, he might be able to knock in about 10 or 12 goals with McDavid and Leon setting him up. Jack Michaels is with us as the Oilers have closed out the Canucks in Game 7. It's After Hours with Abey Lawrence.

I know you're on a tight schedule before I let you go. How do they match up with the Stars? Well, the Stars are an exceptional team. They're a deep team. They finish with a slightly better record than the Edmonton Oilers during the regular season, and they beat Edmonton two out of three.

Now, two of those games were in Dallas, and one of the games, the Oilers went down to Lone Star State and win. But they are a balanced club. They've got a real good goaltender named Jake Ottinger. They've got a nice blend of youth and experience, young players like Wyatt Johnson and Jason Robertson, and then old war horses like Matt Duchene, who eliminated Colorado with an overtime goal, and Jamie Bem, their long-time captain.

I mean, they're loaded for bear. When you get down to the Final Four, Abey, the margins are so slim. And Edmonton and Dallas have basically been alternating wins and losses head-to-head against one another for years now. It's the series that everyone has been waiting for. I mean, Edmonton and Dallas have played some great games against each other in the regular season, but for whatever reason, one or the other has been eliminated before a potential playoff matchup.

That's no longer the case. They're finally meeting Collision Course, West Final. Abey, I would not be surprised if we were looking at another seven-game series.

Well, I'll sign up for that. Is there a better phrase in sports than Game 7, Jack? I just called my third at the National Hockey League level, and I wouldn't mind calling two more before this run was over.

There's nothing like it. There's nothing like a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. There's a reason they call the Stanley Cup the hardest trophy to win. There's a reason that another TNT colleague of ours, Charles Barkley, loves to say the Stanley Cup playoffs are the best playoffs in any sport.

And I'm telling you what, to be a very small part of it is an honor. Edmonton Oilers have one thing on their mind, and that is closing out a Stanley Cup title. You can follow Jack on Twitter at EdmontonJack, play-by-play voice for the Edmonton Oilers. If you have not heard his final 30 seconds of Game 7, don't you worry. We'll be replaying it a bunch.

It is dynamic. Jack, it's always good to catch up with you. Travel safe, and let's hope we do this again. Abey, don't be a stranger. Take care. What? Never a stranger.

Always, friends. But the thing is, the Edmonton Oilers have come up short now multiple times. We don't want to talk about windows and windows closing and how long does this window stay open, but it's hard to keep a tandem together like Drysidel and McDavid. Think back to the Chicago Blackhawks, and I know that whole era is a bit tainted now, but Jonathan Taives and Patrick Kane and the two of them and what they did for the Blackhawks on the ice in terms of winning Stanley Cups and competing for Stanley Cups. They were darn near a dynasty there in the NHL for quite a while.

What, six, seven years-ish? Well, it's hard to keep two superstars together. Now, these guys clearly like playing together, and they are very productive. In fact, they're better because they're together.

But how long do you have them? So Drysidel has said it's cup or bust. Why are you so pissy? Which puts a lot of the onus and the pressure on the shoulders of those Oilers.

One hour down, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Okay, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you.

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