It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We got a rematch tonight. The Stanley Cup Finals starts tonight.
We have the Panthers trying to go back to back. We got the Oilers looking for a little bit of revenge to talk about what we saw last year, what we can expect this go round, what has changed, what we can look forward to. Joining us right now is the host of Under Review.
You can catch him on Sirius XM, NHL Radio. His name is Mick Kern. Mick, how are you, man? Pretty good, sir. Pretty good.
Awesome. Well, thank you for taking the time to join us. I mean, right out the gate. This is the time that I really start drilling into everything going on in hockey. This is actually, I think, one of the best times in the entire sporting calendar for people who are flying in, folks like me. What are some of the big differences from last year to this year?
Guys like Brad Marchand. What else has been different this go round, or will be different? Yeah, as you said, it is a rematch of these two teams from this time last year. Florida won in the complete seven games because they got three-nothing lead in the series last year. Edmonton clawed back into it. It was a tight game, seven. Florida pulled away. Well, actually, they didn't pull away. They edged them in the third period to win their first Stanley Cup.
It was basically as close as you can get without going to overtime. So here we are, 12 months later. Florida's added a couple of players, including super past really good player Brad Marchand from the Boston Bruins. He's won a cup back in 2011. So that's a long time ago.
I'd like to win another. Edmonton's added a bunch of guys, not household names necessarily, but just improve the overall defensive structure of the team. That was a real legitimate critique about the others that they could score, but could they play D?
They have. I would argue, actually, 12 months later, both teams are better than they were this time last year. Florida, I think, are a better team than the team that won the cup, but Edmonton's also a better team than the team that came up a period short.
So if you're looking for, as we're saying, a Smoke and Joel Frazier against Muhammad Ali rematch, this is it. And Mick Kern is here with us from Sirius XM, NHL Radio. The Oilers are the team that unfortunately came up on the short end of the stick last year. How have they improved, and how is their style any different, if at all, under Chris Knoblauch?
I think it's a more complete game. As I kind of said, they've added to their D. They have two of the best players in the world, Connor McDavid, Leon Dreyssetto. I think even non-hockey fans listening right now know the name Connor McDavid. You know the superstars from the different sports. I'm a big baseball fan, big football fan. I'm not a big basketball fan, but I know the superstars when you talk basketball.
You know, I just gotta get a course. I think McDavid's the same. Dreyssetto should be in the same breath. So we know they can score. They don't have Zach Hyman, who was a 50 goal scorer last year, who was a really good two-way player. He injured very badly his right arm with a dislocated wrist.
He's got a cast. He's out for the playoffs. And a very innocuous looking play, but he's gone.
So that's a loss. But they've improved their team defense. The coach has got them to play as a whole. They'll take care of their end first before they go and try to score. They know they can score when they want to.
Nobody scores exactly when they want to, but they know they can force the issue. They're getting really good goaltending from a guy named Stuart Skinner who came under a legitimate criticism earlier on. He didn't start the playoffs very well. And Calvin Pickard, the backup was in there, like putting in your backup quarterback.
He said the backup quarterback got interested and brought back the starter. Stuart Skinner has been absolutely outstanding ever since he got back between the pipes. But in hockey goaltending, the team makes the goaltender. The goaltender makes the team. It's that symbiotic relationship.
They both have to be on the same page. And that they have done. And that's a big reason why the Oilers, after being down to the LA Kings way back a month and a half ago in the opening round, they looked like the Kings were going to kick them to the curb. The Oilers righted the ship and have been one of the better, well, one of the two best teams in the league ever since.
Seven of the Florida Panthers. Well, Mick, you talk about Stuart Skinner. We saw Bobrovsky from last year. Is he at the same level in the same space this go-round?
Yes. And he's won a Stanley Cup. He's won some Vezzanets before.
Bob, as we call him, I don't know if they even call him Serge, but they call him Bob. It was funny because earlier on in the playoffs, I live here in Toronto, so I went to see them play the Maple Leafs in that series that wins seven games. The first two games, he didn't look that great. Toronto got off to a two-nothing lead in that series. The Leafs looked good. In Florida looked, we knew they'd wake up, but would Bobo be in the same page? Bobrovsky, he got his game together and Florida won four of the next five games, including 6-1 twice here in Toronto Ice.
Decisive victories. And when Bobrovsky's locked in, he looks, he has economy of movement. He's not swimming in the equipment as they say.
He's not leaping around like a ball hockey goalie on a Sunday afternoon. He's just locked in, looks confident, which is funny because last year when Florida got off to a three-nothing lead in games, and you need four to win, folks, just like in baseball and basketball, everyone thought this was done. And then the Oilers scored in Game 4 eight goals.
Chase Bobrovsky, chase the Panthers. They won 8-1. They won 5-1 to tie up the series before Florida finally eked out the win. All they remember are the winners, but we remember that because of the rematch. So Bobrovsky is the more, he's the better of the two goal senders, but he also has a propensity for every so often kind of just going out to La La Land. So this could be a tight series. This, you could, you could see a 7-6 game in this series.
It's possible. Well, Mick, I like La La Land. I don't know if Bobrovsky wants to be a living there at all in this series. Mick Kearney's joining us from Sirius XM NHL radio. When you talk about the defenders in front of him, and I mean everybody in front of him, how can the defending champs, you mentioned Connor McDavid and Dre Siedle, how can they slow them down?
What is the best course of action to try to put a chink in them? Well, you know that, first of all, if you haven't watched, folks, turn it on to watch on television. Connor McDavid went against the puck. He's a, he might be the fastest player in National Hockey League history, and there's been some great skaters over the years, the Pablo Berets, the Mike Gartners, the, they're so naive on corner way, they call him the roadrunner for a reason, but when Connor McDavid gets going, he's almost unstoppable. He scored a beautiful goal last, uh, last round on a breakaway against the Dallas Stars that I don't care.
Jacques Plante, uh, and Terry Sockjock, they weren't stopping in their prime, goaltending legends. He just, he's a beast. He might be too fast for his team at times, and Dre Siedle is just a gunner. He likes to sit off the side of the net on the power play.
When they have the man advantage, they feed him and he can just, he can pick a corner. I have a needle kind of players. They're both outstanding. Going to the Hall of Fame when they retire. If they retire today, they go to the Hall of Fame, but they're not.
They're in their prime. So how do you stop them? Well, you, you have to have a game plan. Try not to go to the penalty box too much, uh, or Dre Siedle will, will sink you. And what you're trying to do with McDavid is he's going to get some of his goals. So you try to limit it. You try to limit, okay, he's going to get you occasionally, but he's also a really good playmaker. It's one of the reasons he's leading the league right now in playoff scoring with 26 points, Dre Siedle second with 25.
That's not a coincidence. So what you do is you try to, you try to limit the damage. You know, you know, they're going to get their RBI, you know, they're going to get their touchdown. So you give them a few, we don't give them too many. The thing is in the past though, if you shut that, not shut them down, but if you, if you limited curtailed their production, then you could beat the others because they didn't have the depth scoring.
Well, that's not true anymore. Even once with the loss of Zach Hyman and Ryan Newton Hopkins has 18 points. If I'm blue shard or really good defense, offensive defense on a 17 points. Um, this is a team that has, um, depth scoring.
So if you cut off the head, there's another head and they just keep coming at you. The only thing I can say in response to that, because how do you defend about that? Florida is the same way. Uh, Florida may not have a dry saddle and a McDavid, but they have very, very good players. Alexander Barkov, one of the best players in the league, he's up there in the top 10 and scoring, uh, and uh, Sam Bennett and Matthew Kachuk is 10th and score.
They also have a, a litany of weapons that can throw at you if you block one or two. So both these teams have depth scoring. Their D men are the defense come up and play offensive hockey when needed. That's the modern game and they both have good goal setting and they both have good coaches. The only difference I can see is Florida has been there and done this. This is the third straight year to the Stanley cup final. If Edmonton were newbies here, I might say that's an advantage, but because you're just went seven games, did everything, but when the cup last year, I don't even see that as an advantage. I really think it's going to be who can avoid stupid penalties and you know, and hopefully the ref doesn't, uh, doesn't call something too egregious on you.
Um, and you just make your own luck. Who wants it more? I'm telling you, both teams want it. Florida wants to be one of the few teams that NHL history were two in a row. The owners would like to win their first cup as a franchise since 1990.
That's a long time. So I don't think motivation is, um, is, uh, in question here for either team. It's going to come down to who makes the best of their luck. Well, well, Mick, you talk about any type of advantage of last year, they, they went to seven and there's a lot of travel involved. I mean, flying from a South Florida, going out to Edmonton is not the easiest trip to do over a seven game series. The fact that Edmondson won over Florida and points, is that not an advantage to get that game seven at home? If they go there, it could be, but it is a great question.
Here's the thing. Both teams until now were on the road for the first opening three series. They were the road team and all three series didn't seem to bother any of them. So that's right. And, and, and, and Edmondson had to be the home team. They had what, 101 point to the Panthers in 98, by the way, Panthers beat them twice in the regular season. I don't even care about those results. That was weeks and months ago.
So to me, I'm joking. Yeah. Home ice advantage to Edmonton is a big deal. I think it's the same team with Florida, but Florida likes the road ice advantage.
I'm calling it. They don't care. They like being the underdog they're perceived to be the nastiest dirtiest team right now in the national hockey league.
And I don't think they go out of their way to dissuade anyone on that opinion. I think they welcome it. I think they like being the, the, the, the bad guys, the bad Cowboys, like the Philadelphia flyers used to be in days when I was a kid, it's not as crazy as that. Florida is also a very talented team. I think they love the fact of being on the road.
And here's the thing. It just like in a lot of times in the NBA and MLB, if you were in that first game, you, you, you tear back a home ice advantage. One game can tear all that. So I'm not sure how much of advantage that is.
I still would take home ice advantage if it was given to me, but I'm not too worried about it. As for the travel, it's, I believe the furthest in distance in miles or up here, kilometers, however you measure it, uh, in, in static up final history last year. So they're repeating it. I don't think they've moved the arena.
So it's the same distance. Um, and that's why there's a, there's a number of days off. So they're playing tonight. They play Friday in, um, in Edmonton, Alberta, and then there's two days up before they start going at it again. And I think the reason is, uh, for that very reason. So they'll go, um, they'll go on Monday and they'll go, uh, I believe on the, on the Wednesday.
And so that that's not a factor. I think that's why they built that in the, the extra delays that some people don't like, but I think that's why they're doing it. Hey, hopefully it'll better better the quality that we see on the ice. Mick, final question for you, man. Who do you think is ultimately going to hoist that cup? Oh, that's a tough question because it really, I believe is going to be a seven gamer.
Now here's the thing. I thought it would be Florida and six last year. I, it was in seven. I didn't think they'd go out to a three nothing lead. I don't see that happening this year. I think it'll go back. It could go back to the sunrise, uh, for game three tied.
Oh man. I hate going against the champions, but I do also know how tough it is to repeat. Hasn't been done since I think the seventies or teams met like this and repeat a month. You're over Boston. So I'm going to say Edmonton and seven, but it would not surprise me as Florida and seven. What would surprise me if it goes less than seven games? Yeah.
Well, we see that overwhelming looks like we're in store for another nail biter of this go around. Hey Nick, thank you so much for the time. Please tell everybody where they could find and listen to your show as well. I appreciate that.
Yeah. Serious XM channel 91, uh, 11 AM Eastern, 8 AM Pacific Peter Burson. I do a show called under review first hour. We take phone calls and the second hour we have a litany of guests and we try to have fun, not take it too seriously. And uh, we'll let the games decide where the conversation goes. Hey listen, Nick, I certainly understand that. Uh, nothing, nothing wrong with a little bit of fun.
I try to have a whole hell of a lot of it. Hey Mick, thank you for the time. We'll catch you down the line. Okay. Anytime. Thank you sir. Appreciate it. No doubt about it. That Nick Kern covers all things NHL. You can listen to him on his show under review on Sirius XM NHL radio.
