Latest / Backchecking the Bolts / Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens Playoff Preview ft. Jared Book (Habs Eyes on the Prize)
Transcript
- Jason Linkes: Coming up next on back checking the bolts. even said right after he was hired, there's not a player in that room, whether it's a star player, a player on the bubble, a player who just got sent down, a player who just got waived, who I don't understand what they're going through. And you, you have that a lot with coaches who, know, who are star players or players who are role players, but very rarely do you have a player who is both. And, Marty St. Louis was both. And I think that that gives them a unique perspective. And very quickly I realized, ⁓ hearing him talk, ⁓ this is why they hired him. Welcome to Back Checking the Bolts. Back Checking the Bolts is your cup of coffee to get you the latest on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Join host Jason Linkus and the managing editor of Raw Charge, Justin Godfrey, as they break down the Lightning's most recent games and go beyond the highlights, telling you what the box scores didn't. It's time to drop the puck. Hi everybody and welcome to back checking the bolts. am Jason link us and I am joined by my normal cohort Justin Godfrey from www.rawcharge.com and because it is our playoff preview, we're going to focus strictly on the Montreal Canadians in the Tampa Bay Lightning Playoff Series. We're joined by Jared book from Habs Eye on the prize. You can see him at Habs H A B S I on the prize.com Jared. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me. are going to break down this playoff series. We're going to have a crossfire segment a little bit later. But first, Jared, I want to ask some questions about the Montreal Canadiens. A lot of people thought the Canadiens were on the rise, but they did not expect them to be this high in the Atlantic standings. They didn't expect them to be contending for a division title. Are the Habs a year early? This is a weird season. All right. It's If you ask people before the season, would the Canadians be top three in the Atlantic? Would that be a surprise? I don't think many people would say yes. I don't think necessarily people thought it would be Buffalo, Tampa, and Montreal in those spots, but I don't think it'd be a surprise. I think the way we got here is very surprising though, because last year the Canadians got really good goaltending the whole year. They weren't really scoring that much. ⁓ They weren't really defending that well. Their goaltending kept them in it. And this year has been the complete opposite where they've been actually playing very well and their goaltending let them down for a big part of the season. And really the only reason they made the playoffs is because they were scoring so much during those down times. And finally they figured out the goaltending, they stopped playing Simon Montembo, which helped them in a little bit. Yakov Dobish is playing better as well. And it just, I don't think the end result is surprising. I do think that the way they got there was surprising because I don't think everybody expected every single young player to take a step up this year. And that's what happened. And I think the moderate expectation going into the season was, okay, people are going to take a little step back, maybe stay the same length, but they once again got everybody to step up. And I think that's what's behind a lot of the excitement right now in Montreal and around the Canadians specifically. Now, Jarrett, you mentioned the goaltending. You have Dobish who has really played well, especially the back half of the year with Jacob Fowler, the 21 year old rookie in the organization right now. Is he the primary backup? Yeah. Yeah. I would expect Dobish to start game one. Obviously there's, you know, if he struggles or if there's a couple of bad games in a row, you can see Fowler there, but, I would be very surprised if he played games other than injury or Dobish really struggling. Dobish has earned it. He played in the playoffs last year when Montalba went down in the Washington series. And I think that that's really the hierarchy right now. He's going to be the starter one day. I just think it's maybe a little bit early right now. There was some inconsistencies. They wouldn't hesitate to put him in though. If there was a struggle, if let's say they go down 0-2 or something like that in the series and they're allowing a lot of goals. Um, that wouldn't surprise me, but I think, uh, going into game one, dovish is, should be expected to start. the future of the Canadians net mining is going to be Jacob Fowler, correct? I would expect so. Uh, I mean, goaltending is weird, man. I don't know. Like if you would've told me that, that Yakov dovish would be the starter this season, I would have been like, no, that's crazy. Or I would be like, oh, they're not going to make the playoffs this year. I mean, goaltending is just weird. Uh, but I think. I mean, the expectation, yes, Fowler was going to be at least a 1A eventually. But if Dobish keeps improving, I don't see why there couldn't be a 1A, 1B. It might even be a situation like they had in 2010 where Yaroslav Halak kind of came out of nowhere, took the starting job from Kerry Price, who was expected to be the number one goalie, went on a couple of – went on a playoff run, became a very good starter in his career in the league but not in Montreal. and the Canadians chose to hitch their wagon to carry price, it might be a situation where Fowler plays so well that Dobesh plays well and there's trade value there. But I think for right now, Fowler is expected to be the number one guy. But at least right now, there's no pressure with him taking the job right away. And they also have like, I think, three of the top coltenders in the NCAA somehow. It's a very... Wow. have Alexis Cornway in Cornell who just entered the transfer portal who had a great year. They have Quentin Miller who was the backup in Denver who just won the national championship. And there's Emmett Croteau who there's trade rumors about him because he's not going to sign a bunch of y'all and other teams want him. there's a bunch of guys in the NCAA that the Canadians have as well. They've been drafting guys in the later rounds to try and stockpile their goaltending. It's paid off because a lot of those guys have worked out so far. even Dobish was a fourth round pick in 2022. is one of the best goaltending prospects in the entire world right now. So the expectation that he's going to be the guy eventually, but like with Price back in 2010, there's no pressure for him to necessarily do that right away. And he wasn't drafted top five either. So there isn't really that pressure in that sense either. I don't think the Canadians are worried about their goaltending short or long-term right now, really, to be honest. You had mentioned about some of the unsung heroes from this organization. We know about the cough fields. know about Nick Suzuki. Who are some of the guys that have really stepped up that you didn't expect? Because everybody's kind of stepped up. ⁓ you know, I can say I even dub it all, but everyone was expected. I'm going to, you have to start with Oliver Kaepernick. ⁓ I think, you know, there's a guy that he was in the, in the picture. He played some playoff games last year coming over from. from Sweden after his season ended there. He came up during the capital series, had some NHL time last year. I don't think anybody would have expected him to score 20 goals this season. He was among the ⁓ rookies in goal scoring for most of the season. Nobody expected that from him. So I think he, know, the second line center was a big question mark, except the second line scoring in general was a big question mark for this team going into the season. And I don't think he's necessarily the long-term solution in that spot, but he certainly held the seat warm very well. When you look at playoffs, I think you have to look at guys like Alex Newhook, ⁓ who could be expected to play a big role. He has Stanley Cup experience. He won a Cup with the Avalanche when he was a younger player. He's still young, but when he was even younger. Josh Anderson is always one of those guys. We saw it even in the last game between the two teams. Just really annoying to play against, especially in the seven game series. He steps up in big games. We saw it in the cup round in 2021 as well. He just loves to play those type of games. So I think you could expect him to play a big role and score big goals for this team in a depth role. On defense, there's not really any unsung heroes. Obviously with Dobson missing the start of the series at least, you're going to have to expect guys like Arbor Jacki and Gene Struble to step up a little bit. They played in the playoffs last year. That's the thing about this team is that they're really young. They were the youngest team to ever make the playoffs last year. And this year they broke their own record. So it's a really young team, but they all have experience in the playoffs. They have three guys who are called the candidates, Dobrish, Demidov, and Kapanen. They all played playoff games last year. So I think that's really an underrated part of this team is that they have a really young core, a very young team, but they all have... a lot of playoff games experience. And I think that that's something that's that, that we might see a little bit, you know, obviously not to tap his level in that sense, but they aren't your typical young team in the playoffs. And there's a lot of guys who I can see stepping up in this, in this series for sure. us about Martin St. Louis. I mean, for all of us who are following the bolts, St. Louis is a legend, but he has really come up and I'll say this. was, I questioned the hire. when they made it. I thought it was an odd, an odd hire, but it's really worked out. Tell us a little bit about St. Louis and his impact. was also a skeptical hire. It was an interim role at first, right? So was like two months, three months left in the season. And I was like, okay, this is weird, but whatever. see what works. And we learned very quickly in Montreal, something that you and Tampa and around the NHL have learned. Don't bet against Marte St. Louis. If you, if you questioned him, that's like his fuel. And I think that that's a major ⁓ thing and he's learning on the job. think that there's even he'll admit there, there've been mistakes, there've been missteps, the systems have not always worked. I think what's key about him is in this new era of players and young players and young people in general, he understands how to deal with players. Like he even said, I think right after he was hired, there's not a player in that room, whether it's a star player, a player on the bubble, a player who just got sent down. a player who just got waived, who I don't understand what they're going through. You have that a lot with coaches who are star players or players who are role players, but very rarely do you have a player who is both. And Marty Sting-Lui was both. And I think that that gives him a unique perspective. And very quickly I realized, oh, hearing him talk, oh, this is why they hired him. You can't really question anything because if you look at the Munchale Canadians, there is not one player who came into your organization. who got worse under Martean St. Louis. And I think that's the biggest testament that you can say about him. It's not all about him. Obviously, there's a lot of very talented players that came up and thrived under him, but that's the key. They thrived under him. No one has really taken a step back. No one has not reached their potential. And I think that's a really interesting part of this is that it's a young team that keeps getting better and very rarely does every prospect hit. But the Montreal Canadiens are hitting very high right now. And a lot of that is because of talent, but a lot of that is because of the way that he brings them along. And, you know, Uri Slavkovsky, his draft year, people are questioning, why is he in the ADHD? Why is he not being sent down? And Marte Sulu is like, we have a plan for him. We have a plan for him. And the results kind of speak for themselves. Cole Caulfield was struggling under Dominic Ducharme. St. Louis comes and he ends up being a 50 goal scorer. So it's a questionable decision, but I think that... a lot of teams are going to try and replicate what the Canadians have done because I think what they've done is really unprecedented in a way. mean, I don't think that there's another example of a retool or a rebuild that has gone like the Canadians have gone. Obviously unique circumstances, not many teams rebuild a year after going to the Stanley Cup final, you know, in weird circumstances, obviously, but still ⁓ a big part of where they are right now is because a lot of Suzuki and Caulfield have that Stanley Cup final experience. It feels weird to say, but they were there when that team was there. so ⁓ it's very interesting. And I think that, you know, there are some calls that, ⁓ when the games get tough, he might be out coached. ⁓ But again, I've learned quickly not to bet against them. One other question I wanted to ask you before we go to our crossfire segment, Patrick Liney, he had the core muscle surgery early in the year. You hear that he is cleared to play, but is he in the doghouse? Is he not ready? What's the deal with Lani? I think it's a mix of both. I think that he's not necessarily ready to play, but I also think if he does play, they want him to be in a role for success. So can you argue that he's one of the best 12 forwards on this team right now? Maybe you can make that argument. I'm sure some people would, but if putting him on a fourth line rule, Is that really best for his success? Absolutely not. ⁓ You you wouldn't be able to play him in five on five with two players who are also fourth liners. It just doesn't work out that way. You know, if there's an opening in the Canadian's top six, would he be an option? If he's healthy, I think that's a spot where they would put him in if they needed to. I mean, he's still technically on injured reserves, so they could have activated him and healthy scratched him if they really wanted to. So I don't know if health-wise he's 100 % there, he's been practicing with the team. But I think if he does play, it's not gonna be to replace Joe Valeno on the fourth line. It'll be if something happens to the top six or they need scoring for some reason, if one of their bottom six forwards goes down, they have other players to fill that role. I don't think he's gonna be the guy that they call on in that situation. Now in this special playoff preview episode, have our crossfire segment taking the role for the Tampa Bay Lightning is our own Justin Godfrey and taking the role for the Montreal Canadians is Jared book from Habs eye on the prize.com guys. You have two different teams. Tampa has a veteran core. have Kuturov, Edmund, Vasileski. You'll have a lot of experience in this room, even though headman is not going to be in the lineup for the foreseeable future. The Canadians, it's a young team. As Jer had mentioned earlier in the podcast, what's going to matter more in this series, experience or momentum? Justin, you take this first. Well, I would say for the light of the day, they're hoping it's experience because they're definitely not coming in with a ton of momentum right now. Um, you know, a lot of that is injury, uh, related, of course, I think they've been quietly resting some players. We've heard this ever since they went to the, the cup three years in a row. You know, this is the most experienced team. is the most experienced team. However, it didn't help them against Toronto. didn't help them against Florida the last two years. You know, they were the more experienced teams in those matchups as well. And they still got bounced in the first round. I do think momentum kind of plays into it a little bit. good. It's such a, been such a weird season for the Lightning. ⁓ they've been so streaky. ⁓ you know, they'd be there been the best team in the world or they can't score a goal. Hopefully the experience pays off for them a little bit. They have been through this before. think for them, it is actually good that they ended up with home ice a little bit. Just kind of lets them stay in the routine that they've been in the last two weeks. You know, they finished the season at home, so they're in that play a game, take a day off and go through. They know what they're getting into. Hopefully they can make that a little bit of an advantage over the younger team, which is Montreal. Jared, same question. I don't know if the Canadians have the advantage really in momentum either, to be honest. They kind of been... I mean, they had that long winning streak ⁓ a couple of weeks ago and then, you you take your foot off the glass, the gas when you wait to playoffs and that's natural. Obviously the two wins against Tampa Bay is some sort of momentum. And, you know, like I mentioned a little bit before, the Canadians are young, but they're not really that inexperienced. I mean, like I said, not to Tampa's level, they don't have those types of veterans, but they do have, you know, Philip De Niro, Josh Anderson, who had been to playoff series before. A couple of weeks ago, I looked at the roster, they have 10 players under 20, 22 years old, or under 24 years old, sorry. And out of those 10, eight of them have playoffs experience in the NHL. So a lot of that came last year, which is only five games, but they know what to expect when they go into this playoff series. And I think that the expectations are starting to be a little bit higher also. I actually think it's maybe a little bit better for them to start on the road also, because starting at home, if you don't go up to zero, you're kind of behind the eight ball a little bit. ⁓ especially for a younger team, it might, might be a little bit more pressure, but, ⁓ yeah, I mean, obviously it comes down to experience to have the Bay has the advantage. ⁓ so momentum in the series will be very important. I think that if a team gets onto a role early on, ⁓ that can really help either team, especially once y'all, if they start slow, it'll, it'll be tough. question, Jared, I'm going to start with you. Tampa plays a little bit of a slower pace. They're a little bit more structured under John Cooper. The Canadians are fast. They are lightning fast with their offensive attack. In this series, who controls the pace and what happens if your team doesn't? I think that was the one thing in the last regular season game between the two teams is that when Munchale played their speed, Tampa couldn't keep up. That was very clear. So I think that that's something that they took away from that game. that's what they're gonna have to play with. But they can play slow as well. It's funny because guys like Nick Suzuki, Lane Hudson, they're very skilled, but speed isn't really their calling card, right? It's playing at their pace and making the pace work for them. Obviously, if it's a hard hitting series, Tam Bay gets some advantage there. And I don't think Munchel's gonna play necessarily run and gun, but I think that there's a lot of things that they can do if the pace slows down, but they have to use their speed to their advantage when they have the chance. because it's clear that's one of the advantages they have in this series for sure. Justin, same question. Who controls the pace and what happens if your team... So for me, yeah, it's going to be honestly the Lightning trying to get the lead early. I think if the Lightning are chasing the series, the speed is going to kill them because it's going to open up Montreal for those counter attacks. There's two on one rushes that have given the Lightning trouble. I've been on record time and time again on this podcast that Suzuki line absolutely terrifies me when the Lightning play them. I don't think they have a good matchup for them. You'll probably see the Liani Gord line against them, whatever form that takes, ⁓ with Pontus Holmberg hurt. But I do think the light need want to grind it out. They do want to slow it down. ⁓ but I think where they want to slow it down is going to be either in the Montreal offensive or Montreal defensive zone and in the neutral zone. ⁓ that's where they're going to want to gun things up. Don't let them get the wheels behind them, you know, flowing in and pushing the lightening defenders back. So if the light you can do that, if they can make them. drag the puck out 200 feet is as they like to say, you know, it's going to be good for the lightning. We, seen it, you know, at times even in them two losses, you know, in the third period of like never kind of gotten that four check game going disrupted defensive breakouts and, built up some chance chances. You know, the four one loss, think it was more dovish kind of stealing that third period that that turned it to one game into a four one game with the two empty netters. So the lightning has shown that they can do it. They can contain them when they need to. Um, but I do think getting that lead is going to be important for the lightning more so than the Canadians. Cause I feel like the Canadians have the speed and the talent that if they do get down one or two, even on the road that they can, they can find quick ways to score and strike. Justin, I'm going to start with you. Which team has the special teams advantage in this series? I was kind of looking at it. I don't think either one really has done particularly well. Um, special teams wise, I think fans are well, well, verse in the fact that it struggled down the stretch here, ⁓ just how, how bad they've been, you know, and again, part of that is injuries. ⁓ you know, you've had point out for a little while. You've had Hagle out for a little while. Radish has missed the last two games. Kutrov missed a couple of games here and there. So it doesn't feel like they've had a good flow to the first unit, but it is a streaky first unit. So if they get a couple early, you know, they'll, they get their confidence back. They start shooting the puck instead of trying to pass it, you know, Kutrov feeding it back to, ⁓ radish for those big bombs from the point I give us very slight edge to the lightning. ⁓ but again, you know, if you got Caulfield, Slavkowski, ⁓ Hudson, all those guys out there, that's not a fun unit to face either. So yeah, very, very, very, very, very slight edge to the lightning. Jared, who has the special teams advantage in this series? Yeah, it's, it's, I could cop out and be like, The team that executes better is going to have them. Wow. That's some coach speak right there. That's honestly, it's, it's, it's hard to say because the Canadian's power play has been really bad last few games, but I wonder how much of that is just trying to feed Caulfield too much. ⁓ you know, trying to get 50, trying to get him the rocket Richard. I think that those are two things that have been playing on them, especially when, when you have the, the amount of confidence that. that the young players on the Canadians do, the Suzuki's, the Hudson's, Demodogs, the Fokoski's. ⁓ we can just, you know, play around with this until trying to get goals. So I'm curious once the everything resets to zero, if we're going to see them execute a little bit better. Their power play was very strong for most of the season. Their penalty heal has been bad for most of the season. So I think for Montreal, for them, I think honestly, they would want to keep this five on five for as much as they can. be honest, you saw it in the last game against the two teams, they got a lot of power plays, they didn't really do anything with them. So there's a question mark there. And I think that as long as they stay even on the power plays and the penalty kills, they'll be pretty happy with that. I think that you want to keep it five on five. I think there's going to be a lot of ⁓ coach talk between the two teams also where they're trying to get a game the system to get an advantage, both John Cooper and Marte Sanlouis. We saw them talking to the referees during that game. I think that they knew that that was kind of a playoff preview. So it'll be very interesting to see. But I think for the Canadians, they probably have a disadvantage on special teams. You don't want to give Nikita Kucherov too many chances on the power play. And I think that playing five on five will give them the best chance to win the series, especially if no adoption is out for the majority of it. Jared, I'm going to start with you with this question. Name one player from the bottom six who you think will step up and have a big series. Tease it off the top. But I think Josh Anderson. I think he's one of those players that steps up in big games. ⁓ I think scoring wise, you can count on him to score a big goal or two. And I think he's someone who can step up. I think someone like Philip Deneau is built for playoff hockey. He's not going to, I'm not going to say he's going to step up and score some goals or necessarily get many points, but I think he's going to be leaned on a lot to play big minutes, tough minutes, especially on the penalty kill. And I'll throw in one other one. Jake Evans is a player who stepped up in playoff series his entire career. He's kind of like a Philip DeNoe Jr. at this point. And I think those are three guys that if you hear their names a lot in this series, the Canadians are having a good series. Justin, same question. Who in the Tampa bottom six you think is... prime to step up? I'm hoping it's Johnny Gord. This is the big, know, he's back with the Lightning. He was such a, a linchpin in their Stanley Cup runs before being able to blend that defensive style, being a nagging, you know, hard to play against guy, but throwing in some goals as well. ⁓ you know, had nine goals this year, probably not quite what they were looking for. They were hoping for a little bit more offense out of him, but you know, in these playoff type environments, he could be a big factor. So I'm hoping that, ⁓ you know, from bottom six perspective. If that Gord line is scoring, ⁓ and doing their job where they're dominating possession as well, it's going to be a good series for the Lightning. And then I got to throw Nick Paul in there as well. You know, it's been, ⁓ the big guy's been on and off this season. He's not really found the scoring touch at all. He's bounced around a little bit. He's kind of, if everybody's healthy, he's probably centering that fourth line. So again, you're looking at somebody who's got a history of scoring 20 goals on a pretty regular basis playing fourth line minutes. That's. that could be an advantage for the lightning. if those two guys are going, uh, it'll be good for the, the volts. Well, all I want from you guys here is one name. Tell me one player on your team that had a bad season that needs that playoff reset where the playoffs are their fresh start. Justin. I'll rub your extreme. I definitely put up, you know, guy was brought in to score goals. He didn't score goals. If he, if he does it in the playoffs and he's done it against the lightning in the past. Lightning fans know he can score in the playoffs. Um, so yeah, that's my guy right there. If Ali can score, then this whole season's erased and everybody loves him again. Jared, who's the member of the Habs that just needs that playoff reset needs that fresh start heading into April? I'm going to go with Kirby Doc. Um, battle injuries, uh, hasn't been great since he came back is kind of trying to figure out his role, uh, entering a contract year. His contract expires the end of this year. He's a restricted free agent. possibly playing for his future in the Canadian's organization. I'm not really sure what his role is going to be, but I think he's a player that when playoff hockey comes, he's big body guy who should be expected to step up and in a depth role, I think he needs to have a good playoff. Final major question here, but what is your team's biggest illusion? Every fan base has thoughts on what their team is. Where is your fan base confused as to what your team is? So I'm going to ask you again. What is your team's biggest illusion? Jarrett, we'll start with you. I think he said they're they're soft. They're small and soft. I think that's the illusion with the Canadians, not only from a fan base perspective, but also from a universal perspective. But I think they showed when in that game against Tampa, they didn't back down from anything. And I think that that was a big message sent to them. sent to other people, maybe even sent to themselves, that they're ready for, ⁓ for a battle in the playoffs. And I think that they, they might not be the biggest team, they might not be the strongest team, but ⁓ they have, they have a kind of team toughness and toughness and stand up for each other. And I think that that's, that's something that a lot of people might not be expecting. I wasn't expecting it. But I think in that time beginning, they showed that they're not going to be pushed around. That's going be something to watch in this series to see how they react to the physicality that Tampa is surely going to bring because I think they think also that they can throw a bunch of y'all off by being more physical. Justin, what is Tampa's biggest illusion? I was. I'm to a lot of our readers that they're a bad team for some reason. You read some of our comments and you would think this team won 17 games this year. That is true. I think all serious society, it kind of leads back to the first question you asked in this segment is about the experience. I don't think the light near white. as quote unquote Stanley Cup experience as people think they are, especially considering some of the roster changes they've made over the last few years. mean, you're looking at players like Bjork Strand and Charlotte, we're just Stu and Gergenson's engaged, Gonsalves, all these guys that weren't on those cup winning teams that are expected to play pretty big roles. So I do think experience wise, maybe not as deep as people think. A lot of these guys have been around for the three first round exits. For all the Braeden points that they have, the Kuturov's and you know, whatever, you know, Headman situation or Ryan McDonough. Yes, they have those guys, but I would say more than half of his team is still a team that's looking for a Stanley Cup. So I think that they kind of have that drive to them, which we've seen a little bit more of this year. So yeah, I think they experienced factors of maybe just a tad bit over, overblown. So that would be for me. I'm out here in Las Vegas right now and I took a look at some of the betting odds and they did have the Tampa Montreal betting odds out here and right now this series to me is going to be a close series. The betting odds show Tampa is a heavy favorite minus two 65. I saw yesterday at the West gate. Mandalay Bay was around minus two 50. The numbers are going to fall wherever they're going to fall. But Jared, who wins this series and in how many games? Um, I think it's gonna be a tight series to be honest. I think either team could win. I'm going to go. Munch on six. I don't feel great about that, but I feel if they're going to win it, they have to do it before they get the game seven in Tampa. Um, so I'll go munch on the six, but I mean, it could be Tampa and six or Tampa and seven. I wouldn't be surprised. Um, I think it's gonna be, maybe, maybe the series in the first round. I know a lot of eyes are on Minnesota. Dallas. But I think this one has a juice to go pretty good. Justin, who wins? You know, I'm right on board as far as this being a close series. I'm going to Tampa in seven. ⁓ I think it's going to be a very fun series. I think there's going to be all kinds of interesting subplots. I don't think it's going to be quite as crazy physical as like the last two regular season games are. I think there, you know, you got Josh Anderson on one side, you got Corey Perry on the other. ⁓ there's going to be some, you know, some stuff after the whistle going on. But I think the, lightning finally get shake off that first round. Doldrums play a great game seven. think Vasileski probably steals one or two games and I think Dobrish steals one or two games to be honest. ⁓ so I think it's going to be a really tight series. No way I'm touching the lightning at minus two, whatever. 240, 250. agree with you. staying away from that. Not quite sold enough to take ⁓ Montreal as the underdogs yet either. Like Jared said, I think it's going be one of more entertaining series of the first round. So yeah, it'll be a blast. I'm sort of the impartial bystander here and I have to admit at the number I was able to bet the Canadians, did bet that number. Hey, it's a good value bet. I'm a gambler. looking, I'm looking at the odds. I thought that Montreal at that number was undervalued, especially in Jared. think you had mentioned it before we came onto the podcast that the Canadians had not been on ESPN or a U S major network once this year. And I think that plays into the betting odds a little bit. People just don't see them on TV. And I think that they're a little bit of a hidden gem in the NHL and in a lot of eyes of American viewers because they just don't see just how good and how fast the Canadians are. Yeah. I mean, you know, there's not many teams that have a guy top five in scoring top five goals. I mean, it's Colorado, it's Montreal, it's Edmonton. Those are three. And then you add Lane Hudson into the mix. don't know if you guys saw the, Keith Pelly quote in Toronto when he fired Brad Treleving, but they didn't see the train coming. ⁓ The Montreal train is kind of been, it's not really under the radar anymore. That's a big, a big thing. I think that once people start seeing how this team plays also, I think they're going to get the, kind of love that kind of Edmonton gets. Obviously you need to have success in the playoffs. to have those eyes on you. yeah, I think that they play an exciting brand of hockey. It's fun to watch a lot of their players play. ⁓ A lot of them are American too, which doesn't hurt when you look at the Toronto market and Austin Matthews and things like that. So yeah, there's a lot of reason to have them on US TV right now. They're not the kind of scrappy underdogs that they have been maybe in the past, but it'll be interesting to see what happens ⁓ going forward. Jared, you are the deputy managing editor for Habs Eye on the Prize. Tell us a little bit about your website and tell us what you have planned for the playoffs. We've been around a while at this point. I've been there 10 years and the website's been going a long time before I was there. ⁓ we cover everything Montreal Canadiens, everything Montreal hockey related really, down to the AHL, PWHL as well. And yeah, playoff wise, we're going to have a lot of stuff. have ⁓ pregame, postgame articles every day and every game. We usually ramp it up in the playoffs. We usually have a couple of ⁓ postgame pieces as well. So yeah, if you want a Canadian's perspective on what's going on, ⁓ there's a pretty good place over where we are if I say so myself. you can see Jared's writings at www.HABS, H-A-B-S-I on the prize.com. We're going to have links. In the show notes for anyone who wants to go over and read Jared's columns, Justin, tell us what's going on at raw charge. When we had this discussion yesterday, we didn't know where the playoffs were going to start. We know now they're going to start in Tampa. Unfortunately, peso pluma is going to move this series to a Sunday start. What do you have going on at raw charge? Yeah. Like, like Jared's doing over his site, uh, we're gonna have the previews. We're gonna have the recaps of every game. Uh, I'm to try and do a quick recap the night of, then break it down in the morning a little bit more with some, uh, talking points. Uh, we started looking at some of the history of the Lightning. We posted a couple, um, columns, first of all, basically about the, you know, the light, the history of the Lightning and the Habs in the playoffs. Uh, then talked about the Lightning's successes and failures in the first round. One of my favorite stats is John Cooper's never lost a second round series in the NHL. He either gets bumped in the first round or they're going to the conference finals, baby. So we're going to see if that keeps up this year as well. And then, ⁓ yeah, just cover everything that happens in, in this series. So yeah, stay tuned. is today's podcast for back checking the bolts. We'd like to thank Jared from Habs Eye on the Prize for joining us today. You can read him again at Habs, H-A-B-S-Eye on the Prize.com. You can always catch Justin over at raw charge at www.rawcharge.com. I'm Jason link us. Thanks again for joining us. Please hit that like and subscribe button. And Jared, we always leave this show with a go bolts, but you can have a go Habs go go for it. ⁓ you know what? It's, it's, it's, it's just fun to be in the playoffs again, man. It's, it hasn't been that long. We're not, we're not Buffalo over here. It's, it's, it's just fun to be back in the playoffs. And I think what's, what's, what's fun for the Canadians that this is just a start, right? Like this is just a, the start of something that could be really special. And I think it takes a little bit of pressure off, but then I was gonna be a fun series. I'm, I wanted to go six or seven for sure. Sit back, relax and enjoy it. Everyone. It's going to be a great series. Thanks again. Please hit that like and subscribe button for us. Go bolts. Go bolts. Thank you for listening to back checking the bolts. We are free and available on all platforms, including Apple, Spotify, I heart radio, Amazon, YouTube, and Deezer. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. You can follow Justin on blue sky at raw charge.com. You can follow the show on X at Tampa underscore bolts underscore pod and on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube at back checking the bolts. If you're interested in advertising on the show or partnering with us, You can find more information in the show notes or email Jason at backcheckingthebolts at yahoo.com.