Would Oilers Collapse Be Worst In History? (Hour 1)

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855 212 42 27 is numbered to jump on in 855 212 42 27. You could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter X at Zach Gelb. That's ZCHGELB. I got Moist Mike with me. I got the triumphant return of Stuart Kovacs as well. We're rocking and rolling.

The gang is all here all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Brian Boucher, former NHL goaltender. He is going to stop by 20 minutes from now as we preview the Stanley Cup final as it will come to an end at some point tonight as it is game seven. And I can't believe that we have a game seven. You know, once you saw the Florida Panthers drop game five on their home ice, you thought, okay, Edmonton was going to win game six and you would have a game seven. But if you would have told me on June 13th, right when the Edmonton Oilers dropped the first three games of this series that a few weeks later, we'd be heading to a game seven of the Stanley Cup final.

I wouldn't believe you for a single second. And I know things could change instantly in hockey and hockey is like the most unpredictable sport out of the four major sports. But it is surreal to me after the Florida Panthers who are the best team in hockey and I've been calling the best team in hockey all year took a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup final.

And I get it. Connor McDavid is the best player in the sport. Leon Draisaitl is a top five player in the sport. Zach Hyman is an absolute beast.

We know what he did this past year having a career year. I understand how good of a team the Edmonton Oilers are. And I understand how quick of a game they do play. But when you just need to win one game to hoist the Stanley Cup, I would have thought that the Florida Panthers after getting spot a 3-0 lead, we're going to be able to find the way to do that. And maybe they do so tonight.

Because sometimes to win the Stanley Cup, you've got to be dragged to basically getting to the gate of being able to hoist the Stanley Cup and then dragged all the way to the back of the line as you're about to fall off a cliff and thinking that, OK, maybe we're not going to win the cup to eventually get entrance into hoisting that Stanley Cup. And this would be the complete definition of that whole spiel that I just went through, because when it's 3-0, you could basically taste the Stanley Cup. And now it feels like the Florida Panthers in a win and take all game seven Stanley Cup final final game of the season.

It seems like, quite frankly, that like they have a shot, obviously. Anything could happen tonight and nothing would surprise me. But with how momentum has shifted all the way to the Edmonton Oilers, it feels I don't you know, you can't say it's house money because you're playing for a Stanley Cup, but there's no pressure on Edmonton. And that's kind of crazy when you go into a game seven and there's no pressure on Edmonton, because tonight when you watch the coverage ABC ESPN, what's everyone going to talk about? The two things that are to be talked about is do the Florida Panthers have one last fight in them?

Do they have one last great showing in them after blowing a 3-0 lead and they're on the precipice of becoming maybe the biggest choke artists in sports history? Like everyone's going to be talking about Florida choking, Florida choking, Florida choking. And then when you bring up the Edmonton Oilers, it's going to be what a marvelous comeback this can be and Connor McDavid, we know he's the best player in the game and this will put him in the history books and the story and the legend, it will just grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. You know, obviously Florida can win the game tonight, but when you talk about the greatness of Connor McDavid and this is where we'll start the show, because I do think the Oilers are going to win tonight.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you I'm fully confident in it, but I do feel like the Oilers are going to win, but I just look at some of the big moments in sports where we've seen teams in either a conference final or a championship performance and a chance to win a championship and you just look at some of those all-time great gag jobs like Major League Baseball. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you talk about choke job? It's the Yankees being up 3-0 in the 2004 ALCS and they lost to the Boston Red Sox in seven games. Who was the player you remember from that run?

All right, some may say Kurt Schilling with the bloody sock. You know, David Ortiz had so many big moments, like that's the player associated with that run and I know now a lot of people because of steroids, which I don't view him differently. I still love watching Manny Rodriguez play, Manny Ramirez play.

I just combined Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez and then we have a guy that works with Manny Rodriguez too, so I just basically had them all in the same conversation, but you know what I'm saying? You know, the player I remember from that 2014 at first is David Ortiz and then you look at, all right, isolated game, Super Bowl, 28-3, the Falcons choking to the Patriots. Player you think of first, yeah, James White had a great game, but the player you think of first is Tom Brady and then you go into the NBA Finals when the Warriors had the best regular season team from a record standpoint in the history of the league.

They were up 3-1 in the NBA Finals. LeBron James, like a lot of people could talk about Kyrie Irving with the shot, his Game 6 performance too, but people remember LeBron James first. So if you go through that pecking order and you're looking for, right, these epic comebacks that have occurred in the NFL, it was Brady leading that comeback against the Falcons.

Brady's the greatest quarterback of all time. In Major League Baseball, you had a Hall of Fame player, the best DH of all time in David Ortiz leading that comeback for the Red Sox and for the Warriors where they blew that 3-1 lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron is the guy you think of first. Some people may argue that LeBron's the greatest player of all time. I think he's the second greatest player of all time. So when you're on the cusp of having these historically great comebacks and these epic meltdowns from the other team, the team that usually wins has an all-time great player. Not just a good, not just a very good, not just a great, I'm talking about an all-time great player. And when you look at Connor McDavid, if he wins tonight or not, he's going down as an all-time great player. Like that's how sensational this dude is with what he's been able to do in the NHL.

So, you know, in his first decade in the league. So it feels like when you look at those moments, Pats coming back against the Falcons, the Red Sox coming back against the Yankees. By the way, I love the eye roll that Stu and Samter both gave when I talked about the biggest gag job in Major League Baseball.

And right away, as I was about to say Yankees, you had both of those two guys just roll their eyes behind the glass. But when you go through all that from NFL with the Pats, from MLB with the Red Sox, and also the NBA with the Cavs, and you just feel like what's going to happen is that I ask you to envision how tonight's going to play out. In all likelihood, it's Connor McDavid having a big night and the Edmonton Oilers going into Florida and winning this Game 7. Like that's how I just envision this playing out tonight. But it would be wild if the Florida Panthers end up winning tonight after basically their fans outside of, oh, it's Game 7, anything can happen. They walk into this Game 7 with very, very little hope outside of the fact that, hey, you play one good game and this team is more than capable of winning, you know, one game and playing a good game of hockey because heck, they are the best team in hockey.

Then you win the Stanley Cup. But I feel as if like I have a friend who's a Panthers fan, like a legitimate Panthers fan, season ticket holder. And I'm like, how are you feeling tonight? He's like, I can't believe that it's got to this. He's like, I'm going to the game tonight. He's like, of course, I'm going to talk myself into them winning.

But he goes, I can't believe it got to this. And what you've seen has just been the speed of the Oilers prevail. And that's the crazy part. Like you look at the Panthers, what are they, what are they known for? Controlling the puck, their aggressiveness, and their physicality. Like this is a, a big physical bruising hockey team that up against the Rangers, who technically had the most points in the league, they just dominated controlling the puck. But Edmonton has been able to negate all of those things because they're basically playing keep away with the puck because Edmonton is so damn quick skating with the puck, with their speed and Skinner, their goalie. And right the last few years, we always wonder with Edmonton, when are they going to get a good goalie play? When are they going to get good goalie play?

And it's kind of turned into like the Otani situation when he was with the Angels. Like, yes, I understand the Oilers at least been in the playoffs. They've won some playoff series and all that, but it was okay. You have the best player in the sport, but you can't win the ultimate prize.

And what's the reason for it? And for years with Edmonton, it was the goalie, but Skinner has made some remarkable saves in this series, even in those games, you know, in game five. And, you know, I know some of these, these games are lopsided, but he's made some saves that have kept them in it.

And then boom, the explosion has occurred for the Edmonton Oilers. I'll even go back to game one. I think it was game one. You know, Edmonton, they dominated the shot count.

They looked like they were the better team, but they didn't win the game. So sometimes you could get to a series where it's 3-0 and it's an authentic feel of 3-0 and the other team's been that much better. And other times you get to a series where it's 3-0 and it's like, huh, the other team could have got one. And probably after three games, that series should have been 2-1, I would say, but it was 3-0 and give credit to the Oilers for putting us in a position where they've won three in a row. Now we get an epic game seven tonight.

So here's what I'll ask. If the Edmonton Oilers end up coming back and they complete this comeback out of the four major sports, would the Florida Panthers now be referred to as the team with the worst collapse in sports history? And I was thinking about this once game six did go down and I had this saved in my drafts for a poll question. The moment Florida loses, let's say they do lose tonight. And at first I was going to say, eh, it's probably not the worst collapse in sports history, you know, talking about the four major sports in the playoffs.

But the more and more I thought about it, the answer is yes. Like, don't get me wrong. All three of these are really damn bad, right? The Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. The Red Sox blowing, you know, the Yankees blowing a 3-0 lead in the ALCS to the Red Sox. The Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl. But in the NFL, it's one game, right?

So as bad of a choke job that is, even though I love it being a Patriot fan, I actually think it's more impressive of a choke, I guess is the right way to say this, when not only are you up 3-0, 3-1, but you lose multiple games to blow in that lead. So then we look at Major League Baseball and the NBA comparing it to, let's just say the Oilers end up completing this. Well, Major League Baseball, even though that's an iconic choke job by the Yankees and something we'll never let Stu nor Samter forget, it was in the ALCS. I know that was basically the World Series that year, but it was in the ALCS. It's not in the Stanley Cup Finals, it's on the NBA Finals.

And in the NBA, the Warriors, if we have to pat them on the head, they were up 3-1, it wasn't 3-0. Like this is 3-0 in a Stanley Cup Final. And if, if, if, if, if, the Oilers win this game tonight, I think it goes down as the biggest choke job that we've seen in sports by the Florida Panthers.

Let me ask Samter first. What's your, what's your first thought? Oilers win tonight. Is this the biggest choke job in sports history from the Florida Panthers?

No, to me, it's not. You think about it's happened five times in sports history, where teams come back from three and four times it's happened in hockey, right? So hockey, it's, it's not unheard of 2014. It happened 2010. It happened. So like we've seen it only one time only one time though, in the cup final.

And that was like in the forties. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, you had the exact date. We've seen it in hockey. We've seen it recently in hockey, right? So like even in baseball, it was still 20 some odd years ago. We've seen three times 2010 in hockey. Yeah. But it's Stanley Cup Finals different.

Sure. But because it doesn't feel like in baseball or in basketball, because it's never happened. 3-1 in basketball feels more like a more of a comeback than 3-0 in hockey almost to be honest with you. So for me, I disagree. If you're comparing it, hey, 3-0 is 3-0 and 3-1 is 3-1. No, I know, but I'm saying 3-1 in basketball feels like a bigger comeback than 3-0 in hockey.

Okay. So then what is the biggest choke job then? If you're going to say no, I'm just wondering what is the biggest choke job?

It probably is Yankees Red Sox. Sorry, one more time your mic cut out. What was that? I know, I know. No, what did you say? No, I genuinely didn't hear you. Oh, I said Yankees Red Sox. Oh, okay. Gotcha.

I had to mumble it a little bit because I didn't hear it, by the way. Stu, what's the biggest choke job, assuming that this does go down tonight? I think it is this.

I think this would be the biggest one. And there are a couple of reasons. First, my first reasoning is that the Panthers are by far the best team in the league. They beat the Rangers who are probably the second best team in the league to get here. So this is like... And they were in the cup final a year ago. So they had the experience.

They had experience. And they also know what it's like on the opposite side somewhat, because they did come back from down 3-1 last year to beat the Bruins in the first round to ignite that run. Wasn't 3-0, but 3-1. And my whole thing is like, okay, the Yankees lost in the ALCS to the Red Sox, big collapse, big choke job, all of that, 100%. But they had won four championships in the past decade.

Panthers have never won anything. This was such a moment for them. And the fact that they had a 3-0 lead, whether or not it maybe it felt like 2-1, which I agree, it was closer than the 3-0. But at the same time, you had that 3-0 lead. This feels like this just feels like the worst one.

And again, I can't get there with the football because it's one game. Yeah, no, I agree with you, obviously. And that's why I'm elated that Stu's back, because what I say Stu agrees with.

You know, Samta, that's what I learned. And his three-week absence and your three-week absence, you know, I feel like we disagree more and Stu and I agree more. So I kind of like Stu better.

But Stu's more agreeable. There's one other series else that might trump Yankees 3-0. The Giants having a 5-0 lead in game six of the World Series in the 0-2 World Series against the Angels.

Yeah. Where like they had the lead 5-0 in the eighth inning or in the seventh inning. They left six runs in the seventh and the eighth to lose game six and they lost the series in game seven. That's a big one, too. But the reason why it's not the biggest choke job in history is there was a rally monkey.

So if you just have some sort of prop, you know, I think it eases the pain maybe. You can talk about the Red Sox also in 86 against the Mets. Up in game six, then you got that's true Wilson.

No, no, that's another good one. But I think that's more like an isolated like play like the Buckner Wilson is how people refer to that. Yeah, but they were still up with two outs. They're up by a run in the ninth inning.

I'm not saying that isn't a choke. I'm just trying to find anything anti-Boston and not anti-Yankees. Yeah. Well, we'll take a break. We'll come on back. Brian Boucher is going to join us. We will preview game seven of the Stanley Cup final tonight. It is Zach Guelph show. Minimum ten dollars per order excludes restaurants.

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For more details, request your appointment at Midas.com. Alrighty, game seven of the Stanley Cup Final comes your way later tonight. The Florida Panthers at one point were up 3-0 in the Cup Final, and now we have a game seven.

Holy smokes. What Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers have done the last three games is just surreal. Now joining us is Brian Boucher, the former NHL goaltender. He does a great job all throughout the year, NHL on TNT, and he's kind enough to join us right now. Boucher, always appreciate the time.

Thanks so much for it. How you been? Yeah, great to be with you. Doing good at the finish line. Can't wait. It's been a long year, but boy, it's gonna end with some drama here tonight.

Should be great. Yeah, I thought the finish line was gonna end last week. I can't even believe that we have a game seven. What have you seen since the Oilers did fall down 3-0 in this series? How they've been able to get these last three wins? Well, they've played North hockey.

I think a team that has so much skill, they've not tried to over-complicate their game. They've just gotten the puck north. They've stretched the neutral zone. They've found ways to get their speed game going, and I think for a team that probably fancies itself on trying to create plays and find east-west plays, they just took what was given to them. Not looking for another play, just get it to the net, and they found ways to get pucks past Sergei Bobrovsky in game four, and from there the confidence took over. And to be honest with you, I feel like Edmonton in five of the six games probably deserved to win, and the fact that they were down 3-0 in this series gives credit to Sergei Bobrovsky, a big reason why the Panthers were up 3-0.

But the Oilers, I feel like, have been the better team for a huge chunk of the series, and finally they're starting to get results. When you talk about Bobrovsky, we know how sensational of a goalie he is, but when you've lost three straight, there's this whole mental game that gets a part of it. What do you expect from Bob tonight in game seven?

That's a great question, and I don't really have an answer for you. I don't know what we're going to get from Sergei Bobrovsky tonight. The one thing I know as the next goalie is that when confidence slips, it's hard to stop that momentum going in the wrong direction. Something has to happen for you to gain your confidence back, whether it's a series of big saves, a key save at a key moment, that can kind of spark you and get you going in the other direction. But for Bobrovsky, I feel like a guy that was just so confident, so calm at the start of the series, getting pulled in game four, seemed to rattle his cage a little bit, and he's had a tough time in gathering that confidence back.

All eyes will be on him here early on tonight. I think Florida has to do a better job defending in front of them. I think Florida needs to score first. I think they need to extend the lead if they do score first, and give Sergei Bobrovsky a little bit of breathing room so that he can kind of get his legs underneath them and get his confidence back. But if that doesn't happen, they fall behind. It's one of those feelings of the goal. You're like, here we go again.

And it's hard to get that confidence when you fall behind. So we'll see what happens tonight. But look, either way, it's going to be a great storyline. If the Oilers pull it off and come back and win this series, the talk will be about McDavid and what this team has done. It'll be a historic moment. And if Florida is able to stop this runaway train that's been going on in the last three games and win, that'll be a hell of a story, too.

So it should be great. Talking to Brian Boucher right now with us on the Zach Gelb show for a few more minutes. Yeah, that's the thing. It's like I have so much respect for the Panthers. You know, I'm a Ranger fan.

And I've been saying all throughout the year, Bush, that they're the best team in hockey, the Panthers. And I just know how physical they are and how much they control the puck. To see what they've looked like, really, the last three games and how that speed of the Oilers like you were talking about, you know, it's one of those things when a team is just used to being at the run that they've been on the last two years, that it looks like their confidence is totally gone. And now, obviously, momentum is totally on the side of the Oilers. Yeah, they look slow.

They look tired. A team that was, you know, so good at possessing the puck in the offensive zone and forechecking and retrieving pucks and winning 50-50 puck battles, they're slow to everything. They're just a step behind. And the Oilers seem to be anticipating where the puck's going next. And the Panthers have had a tough time in figuring that out. And some key players have really gone dry for the Panthers in this series. Like, Carter Verhage has been invisible.

Minus nine in this series. I know some of that is empty net or goals against. But a guy that, you know, has scored some big goals to his team has been quiet.

Sam Reinhardt has been quiet. Only one goal in this series. Matthew Kuchuk. I mean, I know in the second half of game five, he looked terrific. But aside from that, I can't say that I've noticed Matthew Kuchuk in this series. Sam Bennett, I guess you could say the same thing. And then their depth, their third and fourth line has been nowhere near as good as Edmonton's depth. So, if it wasn't for Evan Rodriguez and Alexander Barkov, who knows?

And Sergei Robrovsky. I mean, who knows? This could have been a way shorter series. But they're alive. They got a chance. All they got to do is win one game.

We'll see how it goes. But there's no doubt that the speed and the confidence of Edmonton is taken over here in this series. We know momentum is a real thing, right? As talk to host analysts, right?

People that follow the sport. Everyone talks about momentum, momentum, momentum in a moment like this. I know you got hurt in that comeback against the Bruins when the Flyers were down three on that series that ended up winning in game seven. But did you guys at all feel in that locker room a total momentum shift?

And when did it occur when you look back at that series? Yeah, it's funny. When you look back on it, you can feel the momentum. You feel good about yourself.

But it's funny. When you're on the side of where it's going well for you, you don't feel like the momentum carries from game to game. Like when the puck drops. It hasn't carried over.

It's two days in between games. You don't feel like it carries. But there's something about it where you get the breaks almost all the time in those situations. You'll get the hit post that the puck stays out and then you go the other way and score. And then when you look back on it in hindsight, you're like, yeah, boy, we really did have the momentum. But in the moment, you don't feel it. You feel confident. You feel good.

You kind of earn your breaks. But I don't know that you feel it when the puck drops. Now for Florida, they probably feel like it's slipping from them. And I've been in that situation too. In 2000, we were up 3-1 in the New Jersey Devils and Eastern Conference Final. And we couldn't get it done. And when I look back on that, it felt like everything that we were trying to do, we got in our own way. So yeah, momentum is certainly there during the game.

But you've got to find a way to kickstart each and every game in order to get it in your direction. And I feel like we did it in that Boston series with the Flyers. And I feel like Edmonton is doing it right now. They found something in each and every game that they start. They're finding a way to get momentum back in their favor. It may seem like a silly question, Brian Boucher, but when you're down 3-0, clearly you got to win or you're done.

And then Florida would win the Stanley Cup. But you're pressing, right? It's all hands on deck. And you know what the job is.

I wonder at all. And obviously, they know what's at stake tonight. If the Oilers exhaling after game six, maybe impacts them into game seven tonight, just with the mental grind it's been the last three games.

Well, here's the thing. When you're down 3-0, I think all pressure is off you. I think the mentality is just relax, play. Let's just go have fun. I bet you that's the message in almost every locker room, every situation when you're down, every team I've played for. And when you're down like that, guys, let's just relax.

Let's just go out and play. And you leave it all out on the ice. And if you give an effort and you lose, then you tip your hat to the opposition. I think the pressure was all on Florida in game four, because they knew that if they lose game four, now the pressure really is on them to close it out at home in game five. And then what if you don't close it out in game five?

Now what? So the pressure has always been on Florida from the minute was 3-0. And what Edmonton now I think is going to feel, finally for the first time, they may feel a little bit of pressure because I don't know of anybody that I've talked to that says Florida is winning tonight.

So Paul Bissonnette, I think I saw someone said that he predicted a 4-3 Panthers win. He may be the only person predicting that. I think everybody's expecting Edmonton.

And those expectations sometimes can create pressure. How will Edmonton handle it? We'll find out tonight. How would you put it into words, Bouche, if they do this, where they complete the comeback and McDavid, we know he's the best player in the sport. If he's the one that kind of leads this comeback and they're able to come back from down 3-0, how would you put that into words what this does for the legacy of McDavid and what it really means for the sport? Well, it'll be the greatest comeback in Stanley Cup final history. And it may go down as the greatest series ever. I mean, I wasn't around for the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs comeback, so I can't speak to that. And that may have been a heck of a series. But this will, no doubt, be the greatest Stanley Cup final ever in modern history. And Connor McDavid, who is the best player in the world, on the face of the planet, he is the best, will cement his legacy with this win.

And this could catapult him to multiples, is what it could do. And it'll be a heck of a moment for the league. It'll be a heck of a moment for a franchise that had a heck of a run in the 80s. But it'll also be a heck of a story if Florida finds a way to stop the bleeding and win, which is why sport is the greatest of reality TV. We do not know what is going to happen tonight. As much as we can think we know or predict or anticipate, you drop the puck, anything can happen. And I can't wait to see how Edmonton responds, and I can't wait to see how Florida responds.

It's going to be a heck of a night. Two more for Brian Broucher. How about on the goalie side for Edmonton with Skinner? He's really taken his game to the next level. What have you seen him improve on? You know, he doesn't have to be great.

He just has to be adequate. And we've seen enough goalies here in recent history where that just needs to be the case. Go back to 2010, Anthony Nyemi for Chicago got it done. Darcy Kemper got it done for Washington. Aidan Hill got it done last year for the Vegas Golden Knights.

So goal tenders that aren't of the highest ilk, you just have to do their part. And I think if you go back to game four, when the Oilers got up 8-1 and you watch that third period, and the Oilers gave up a lot of quality chances in that third period, and that score could have been 8-3, 8-4 at the end of the game, and people may not have paid attention. It's not a big deal, but I'm telling you the goalie, he had so many quality opportunities against him, and Skinner locked in, and he focused on that third.

He gave him nothing. He robbed Matthew Tkachuk on an empty net one-timer, so that frustrated Tkachuk. And I think in that game, in that moment, in that third period, Skinner, it proved something to him, and he got momentum on his side and his confidence back.

So give credit to him. He could have easily just kind of floated through that third period, and if it goes to 8-4 and they win 8-4, yeah, they get the win. But is Stewart Skinner the same boy that we're seeing in game five and game six? I don't know.

Maybe not. He's found his game, and he's found that at the right time. Well, last thing I'll ask you, obviously, with what you said, it sounds like you're going Edmonton tonight, but how do you see the game kind of playing out, and what kind of game do you think we're heading to with this game seven? Well, I mean, I don't bet it, but if I had to bet it and I was putting my own money on it, how could you go against what Conor McDavid's done? I mean, I know last game he didn't have a shot on goal and he had no points, but he's got 11 points in the series.

He's put this team on his back. It seems almost impossible that it's not going to go his way in this game. But in saying that, if Florida scores first, the team that has scored first has won five of the six games in this series. There's been very little lead changes in games. So the team that gets up pretty much is the one that wins. If Florida scores first, and if they find a way to extend the lead, now we're going to see an Edmonton team, who I think when they have to catch up, I think the coach, Chris Knoblauch, at times loses patience.

We haven't seen it in a long time. Loses patience and wants to put dry settle with McDavid. The minute you put dry settle with McDavid, I know logically it probably feels like it's an advantage for the Oilers.

I don't think it is. I think it hurts the rest of their lineup. I think they're better when they spread them out and they spread them out by playing with the lead. So get Edmonton behind, get them chasing, get them pressing, and who knows? I mean, it's a game that Florida hasn't gotten to at all since game two, in my opinion, of the series.

If they can get to it, maybe they can frustrate them. But like I said, I mean, if I had to put my money on it, if I'm not, it would be Edmonton I'd be going with. You know what it feels like? Like you look at some of the biggest sports comebacks ever in playoff, like NFL, Super Bowl, Brady coming back from down 28 to 3, David Ortiz with the Red Sox coming back down 3-0 against the Yankees in the ALCS, LeBron coming back from down 3-1 with the Golden State, going up against the Golden State Warriors. You have moments like this, you usually have an all-time great player, and that certainly is Connor McDavid.

Yep, that's exactly it. It's usually a star right in the middle of it, and that's why it feels like it's McDavid's time. This probably from a sports standpoint, maybe if you can take all the other sports, I don't know, I'm not huge in other sports, but the Red Sox in 0-4, I feel like it would be that comeback, right? It was 0-4 that they came back when Dave Roberts stole second base. It would be that moment. It's as big as this.

It's as big as that in my opinion. Yeah, I have two producers with me that are Yankee fans, so they're like mother bleeping you right now, they're not happy with you, Brian Boucher. They won plenty, it's all good, they can relax. That one still hurts them right at the heart to this day, but Boosh, enjoy game seven tonight, we appreciate you carving out some time with us today. All right, you bet, you bet, thanks for having me. There you go, Brian Boucher joining us live on the Zach Gelb show, day of game seven of the Stanley Cup final. Great job all throughout the year covering the sport for TNT.

Ack, let me ask you, you've been around a long, long, long, long time. Does Edmonton get the job done tonight? I would lean toward them, and this is my reasoning why. It's not that I don't have faith in Florida, but obviously you don't know what you're getting in Sergey Brabovski, so that to me is the biggest factor of the series. Edmonton has the best player on the earth, you combine those two factors, the momentum, and I just wonder, I think the day off helps Florida, but I wonder if they ran out of gas. You know what, I should have asked this to Brian Boucher. Get him back on. McDavid wins the con smite either way tonight, right?

I don't know. What happens if, you know, a Matthew Kachuk has a hat trick? Yeah, fair. So he's probably the leading contender at this point, but you know, I wouldn't put it past anybody on Florida should they win if somebody had a really big game. Would this be the biggest choke job out of the four major sports in the playoffs? Like we talked about the Pats coming back 28 to 3, Yankees Red Sox in in 04, and then the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 3-1.

I want to stop short of saying it's a choke, but I don't know how else you would classify it. To not get it done on the big stage, you're cruising with a 3-0 series lead, and you're looking for your first Stanley Cup in franchise history, and I don't know if they took the foot off the gas pedal and just couldn't get it back on, or you know, momentarily did that, and now it was like uh-oh time, but it I think it would, you'd have to put it there. It really seems like game five. Like if Florida does not win tonight, you look back at game five and you go up 3-1, cup in the building, on your home ice, once you lose game five, you knew you were going to lose game six. Well, I also also think, you know, look, you could lose game four. You say, all right, you know, they were hungry, they were desperate, we're going to go back, hit the reset button at home, the cup that you said, the cup is in our house, it's not going back to Edmonton. That had to be the game where there had to have been a sense of urgency. They had to leave it all out there then, but hey look, you know, the Rangers were looking at the same thing, not 3-0, but they were up three games to one, had a chance to win game five, lost on home ice, lost game six in Vancouver, and came back and won game seven. So look, again, it's not 3-0, but yeah, you kind of expected more, especially the wave of momentum that the Panthers were riding going into game four. You're like, how did this happen? And they got to get their mojo back, and they don't get it tonight.

It's not an easy thing. Gonna be a Connor McDavid party down in Florida. Yeah, it is the Zach Gelb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Come on back.

We'll talk about the craziness yesterday at the Traveler's Championship where Scottie Scheffler wins once again, but first up, you just heard his voice. Here's the latest update with the Ackman, Rich Ackerman. Selling a little or a lot. Shopify helps you do your thing, however you cha-ching. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business, from the launch your online shop stage to the first real life store stage all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Shopify is here to help you grow, whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits. Shopify helps you sell everywhere from their all-in-one e-commerce platform to their in-person POS system. Wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify has got you covered. Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet's best converting checkout.

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Get guaranteed. Low price is an excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Oh, O'Reilly Auto Parts. I was watching the Travelers Championship yesterday. And what an epic final round in Cromwell, Connecticut. So Scottie Scheffler now has six wins in the calendar year of 2024, which is just bonkers.

And the one people remember the most is the Masters. Obviously, earlier this year, the first major of the of the calendar year. And then after that, I think the thing people remember the most about Scottie Scheffler is actually at the PGA Championship where, yes, he did not win, but he got arrested trying to get to the PGA Championship. When you had, unfortunately, a casualty occur, I believe it was in an accident. And then security is blocking off the one entrance at the Valhalla Golf Club.

And then somehow he wound up in a jail cell. Well, I thought it was very fitting yesterday that you had cops and security invading the 18th green as Scottie Scheffler was trying to hit a punt to win the Travelers Championship. And when that was happening, you had these dopey protesters. What was it like? What were they protesting, guys?

Like oil, I believe. It was just like so stupid. Have your causes speak up for what you want to believe in. And I understand you do that at a sporting event because it's going to garner a ton of attention.

But it doesn't make me say, oh, I now believe in the cause of the protesters even more. It's like a bunch of morons are basically ruining my Sunday as I'm trying to watch a sporting event. At least they weren't like the knuckleheads in, I think it was Minnesota. Remember that girl that glued her hand onto the court? At least they didn't glue their hands to the grass in Cromwell, Connecticut on the 18th, but they had all these smoke bombs.

I'm not usually like a weird security kind of guy because I understand it's not an easy job. But how do you bring smoke bombs, you know, pretty much into the Travelers Championship? It was crazy. And, you know, I get it. CBS is going to pan away. But can you actually show me what's going on? You know, let me see what's going on. Let's not. We all know something's happening. Let's not pretend like something isn't happening.

I hope people are going to say, oh, well, you don't want to highlight these morons even more because then it gives people a bigger platform. It's already happened. You knew you were going to have a delay.

You knew they still had to finish up 18. Now, here's what I think happened with Scottie Scheffler. It's the first time you've seen him rattle. I think because of what happened at the arrest at the PGA Championship, he saw the cops running on to tackle these dopes that protested that that gave him a little PTSD, get him back to being in the slammer.

And he knew where those protesters were going. It was right to the slammer. So I think Scottie Scheffler is like, oh, I don't want to go back to prison or even have that thought of me going back to prison, which I'm sure it wasn't that miserable of an experience for Scottie Scheffler.

Scottie Scheffler, I don't think he was next to Big Bob like in Harold and Kumar. If you want to go back to what was that? What was that? The White Castle thing. What was that show? Oh, it's called Harold and Kumar, right?

That movie. I don't think it was like a Big Bob scene for Scottie Scheffler. But I think that's why he got tense a little bit and just missed that part where eventually his good friend Tom Kim drains it. And he had the mental toughness. But then in the playoff, the one whole playoff as they move the pin and everything from all the craziness that did happen a few moments before Scottie Scheffler was able to win. But when you get past the entirety of the dopey protest and it getting into a playoff, I was thinking about one thing yesterday because Scottie Scheffler is without question the best golfer on the planet. I don't think he's the face of the sport because he doesn't have a great personality. But right now he is by far and away the best golfer. I would actually say the face of the sport right now in some bizarre way is Bryson DeChambeau, even though he's playing on live golf. And it could be an immediacy bias.

I will recognize that. But you think about just being able to utter that that sentence is the microphone is wild because Bryson DeChambeau was like a villain and was hated two years ago. And now with how he performed at the PGA championship, I think he got people back in his good grace and then he won the U.S. Open.

And it's like, oh, we all love Bryson DeChambeau. But when we talk about Scottie Scheffler winning six six tournaments already in the year of 2024 and one of them being the Masters, the prevailing thought that I had the other day was, man, it just sucks that we have this divide with live golf and the PGA Tour. And I know that it was announced, right? There's that financial merger and people keep on telling us what it's going to mean. No one knows what it's going to mean. Where we were a year ago to where we are now, people keep on saying, oh, it's close, it's close, it's close to finding out the details.

When are we going to find out the details? And will it mean that we're going to get everyone under the same umbrella again? Because as someone that is a casual golf fan, I play golf, I definitely watch all four of the major championships and a few other events throughout the years. Like, I wouldn't say I'm a golf purist, right? I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I know each and everything about the sport, but I do enjoy watching golf.

I think when you get a little bit older too, right? It's like, just sit down on a couch on a Sunday, watch the final round, have a beer, have a cocktail, and you just get to watch and yell at the TV. And it's basically like, leave me alone to everyone else. I think that could be part of it as well. But all I care about is getting the live guys and the PGA Tour guys back under one umbrella, where even if they're not competing consistently against one another, that we just get to see them more together outside of the major championships. Because it sucks that a lot of these live golf guys, they're kind of like an obscurity. That we only talk about them at the major championships, or if something crazy happens at a live golf event. And think about how wild this would be for the sport when you have Scottie Scheffler dominating and winning six championships, if all those events are able to happen up against the live golf guys as well. So it'd be cool if they had some kind of event where it'd be like PGA versus live, or if we could just get them actually under one umbrella again, because it would be better for the sport and people that are casual fans like me. When we tune in, we want to see the best of the best.

And even though the best golfer on the planet right now is Scottie Scheffler, and I still think he'd beat the guys on live, and he would probably still have the same victories. You just wish you got to see that in more frequency, the best going up against the best, rather than this divide that people say is going to get rectified with this financial merger, and we still have no clue what the heck is going on. Mike McCarthy is fed up with Jerry Jones.

What does this mean for the Cowboys? We'll discuss next. It is the Zach Gelb show back in five. Tune in is the audio platform with something for everyone. News.

In order to secure convictions in a court of law, it is essential that we conclusively sports the step back three music. And even podcasts, whatever you love, hear it right here on tune in, go to tune in.com or download the tune in app to start listening. Start your summer road trip at Midas and get up to $30 off your next repair service. Plus get a free closer look vehicle check to make sure your road trip ready. So if you need to break service and alignment check or tune up, hit up Midas for up to $30 off.

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