0:00

Welcome back in to Leafs

0:02

Lunch here on TSN 1050. They'll

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rescue you from your car lease. Leasebusters,

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heroic, maybe, helpful, totally. People

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would love to take over your car lease. For your lease

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relief, go to Leasebusters.com. It's

0:15

game five of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight.

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It's Julia Tescheri and Mike DiStefano with you for the

0:19

next half an hour. We're joined right now

0:22

by Gary Lawless, Vegas Golden Knights insider

0:24

and radio color commentator. How's it going

0:26

today, Gary? What's the vibes like in Vegas?

0:29

I'd imagine pretty fabulous

0:30

today. Yeah,

0:33

I think everybody's a little nervous. There's

0:36

an opportunity for something pretty special

0:38

to happen tonight. Florida

0:41

is going to obviously try and

0:43

bring their best game to the series. They're

0:45

pretty banged up.

0:47

But

0:48

the Golden Knights, the players around them

0:50

yesterday, the mood was pretty light.

0:54

It was covering up some,

0:57

I think, a mood

1:00

of commitment, determination, and

1:02

confidence. They know what they

1:04

can do and what they have to do. Now

1:08

they just have to do it.

1:10

Great stage here in Las

1:13

Vegas, at home for them tonight. Well,

1:16

how much do you think the team is leaning

1:18

on former Cup winners like Petrangelo, Martinez,

1:21

Quick, even Phil Kessels around the team? Guys

1:23

who have been there and they've closed out Cup

1:25

final games. How much are they leaning on them to

1:27

make sure that this Vegas team doesn't

1:29

get too jittery and they make sure that they take care

1:32

of business tonight? Yeah,

1:34

I think there's a whole bunch of different

1:37

sort of voices right now. I'm sure

1:39

Marcia Sobel, Carlson

1:42

and Smith, the

1:44

key misfits, and

1:46

Braden McDabb, I put them in that group

1:48

as well. Theodore and Kerry. They've

1:51

all been here and came up empty-handed.

1:54

So they'll be talking a little

1:56

bit about how they missed

1:58

out on an opportunity. And now they have had

2:01

to wait five years to get another one. Um,

2:03

and I need obviously the guys that have won before,

2:06

uh, you know, they will be

2:08

talking about approaching

2:10

this game like any other game and,

2:12

uh, and not getting

2:14

to get the billing is going to be wild.

2:17

Okay. The building is tickets

2:20

are going, glass seat

2:22

tickets right now are going for around 20,000 bucks.

2:26

Wow. Heavily,

2:29

heavily, heavily, heavily. Pro

2:31

Vegas crowd. Um,

2:34

and there's going to be, it

2:36

does the expectations and,

2:39

and, um, a good one, it'll

2:43

be pretty heavy, the atmosphere

2:46

in the building. So I do think we need to get

2:48

through the first five minutes

2:50

of, you know, I not make any execution

2:53

mistakes. I think the game will be very

2:56

simple early on. And first

2:58

has to probably be pushing

3:00

the deep, but simple sort

3:02

of the whole game, kind of like, uh, you know, the blueprint

3:05

is game six of the Western conference final

3:07

against Dallas where they just went out and

3:10

were completely dominant, didn't make, didn't

3:12

make one mistake all game

3:15

and, uh, and resulted in,

3:17

uh, in a walk away six

3:19

different victories. So that's, that's

3:21

the game they want to have tonight. And

3:24

I do think that getting,

3:26

getting through the early part of the game will be

3:28

crucial for them.

3:30

Yeah. It really has been by committee

3:32

for this Vegas golden Knights team. It's, it's been a

3:34

thrill to watch all the depth and those guys

3:37

shining. And it's resulted, I

3:39

think in some interesting storylines. It's like, there's

3:41

been a new star, uh, of

3:43

the game each night for Vegas. So, so what

3:45

to you has been the most intriguing

3:48

or engaging storyline revolving around

3:50

this Vegas, Vegas golden Knights team this post-season.

3:51

Well,

3:54

I'll just pick up on your, you know, by committee,

3:57

uh, theme. Cause yesterday

3:59

someone said to me. in the dressing room, you

4:01

know, who would you pick for Kant's wife? And

4:03

I stood around and I was looking and I'm

4:06

like, okay, this Jack Eykohi's been

4:08

fantastic. The Marciso,

4:11

boy oh boy, he's got points in nine straight.

4:14

Every time he shoots the puck right now, students will be going

4:16

in. Mark Stone's on a

4:20

scoring streak. He's got points in every

4:22

game in the series and multi-points

4:24

in the last two games in a row.

4:27

Chandler Stevenson had two the other

4:29

night. William Carlson throughout

4:32

the playoffs has, you

4:34

know, he blanketed Pierre-Luc

4:36

Dubois, Kyle Connor. He minimized

4:39

Connor McDavid. He shut down Leon

4:42

Drycidal in the last two games of

4:44

that series. He made hints

4:47

at Robertson and

4:49

Pavelski look average

4:52

for big stretches of that Dallas series.

4:54

Markov didn't get on the score

4:57

sheet until the series got to Florida

4:59

and Florida had last change. So,

5:01

there's in that Hayden Hill, 2.11 and a 9.25 in

5:04

the final and his playoff numbers

5:09

are in his state percentage is almost 9.40.

5:13

So, like, who do you pick? Literally,

5:16

if Vegas wins tonight,

5:19

it probably comes down to who has

5:21

the biggest night tonight amongst

5:23

that group. Because everybody, because it's

5:26

been by a comedian, that's

5:28

so, to me, that is the story

5:30

of the Golden Knights. Kelly McCrimmon built

5:33

a wagon. This is a monster team.

5:37

They have double

5:39

digit scores on

5:42

all three of their top nine. So,

5:44

that Marshall So, and

5:47

Marshall So has double

5:50

digit goals. Stevenson

5:52

has double digit goals. And

5:56

Carlson has double digit goals. All

5:59

three of their top nine.

5:59

top three lines has

6:02

a guy who's got ten or more in the playoffs. That's

6:04

wild. That's wild. Yeah, it

6:07

really is remarkable to see and I could just imagine,

6:10

you know, how much of an influence that

6:12

could end up having on what teams and how they

6:14

try and build going forward into

6:16

the offseason. I mean, there's two

6:18

things I think you could take away from what Vegas

6:20

has built. It's one, that hulking

6:23

blue line that not only is big but also

6:25

physical. They've got speed and they can

6:27

move the puck but also to your point, up

6:29

front, they just roll all four lines. Like

6:32

to you, if you look at, if you were a general manager

6:34

and you had to decipher, do we want to work

6:37

on our blue line or do we want to work on our depth, which

6:39

one do you think is maybe has been more important

6:41

or stood out to you? Well,

6:45

the blue line has allowed and it's actually,

6:48

you know what, they just, they play as a five-man

6:51

unit,

6:51

right? The offense, when

6:53

Vegas is at its best, it's moving

6:55

up and down the ice as five

6:58

and, you

7:01

know, when the last time Vegas was in this game, the couple,

7:03

William Carlson, Carlson was the number

7:05

one center and it's five years

7:07

later and he's the number three center and

7:09

Nick Waugh is right behind him in

7:12

the number four hole and you can argue

7:14

that he could play in the

7:16

number two or three hole on a lot of teams

7:18

in the national hockey. So that's strength down

7:21

the middle and then that blue line,

7:23

that to me is the story of the Golden Knights

7:26

in terms of what their

7:28

roster is. Like they got some

7:30

great wingers, don't get me wrong, Marcia

7:33

Stone, Barbara Shev, Smith,

7:36

like there's a lot of good stories

7:40

in those areas as well but just,

7:43

you know, find me four better

7:45

centers in the NHL. It's tough.

7:48

I'll hang up and listen, you know

7:51

what I mean? It's

7:53

tough to do that and then the blue line

7:56

is the best, most complete 200-foot

7:58

blue line. the NHL.

8:01

Hagg and White Cloud are

8:03

the bottom pairing. Well, they're

8:06

middle pairing just about anywhere

8:09

else and they're still

8:11

both very young with lots more

8:13

to give. And Nick Hagg is a fascinating

8:16

story because he

8:18

has kind of come out of

8:20

his shell in the sense that

8:23

he has become a physical presence in

8:25

this in this playoffs and

8:28

a guy that after the

8:30

whistle, if you want to mess around, I

8:32

don't know if you guys have seen Quest for the

8:35

Cup, but in episode

8:37

five of the documentary

8:39

the NHL puts out, Matthew to Chuck

8:42

says to Hagg

8:44

behind the net, what are you going to do? And

8:46

Hagg looks at him and says, you know what I'm

8:48

going to do. And

8:52

earlier in the series, Hagg said to

8:54

Chuck, all this crap you've been pulling,

8:57

you haven't played me yet. You

8:59

haven't played me yet. It's over,

9:01

Matthew.

9:03

And so far it has been. Yeah,

9:05

it really, really has. I mean,

9:08

it's been a good story, obviously, the Vegas Golden

9:10

Knights and a chance to end

9:12

it on home ice tonight. I couldn't imagine how

9:14

electric of an atmosphere that's going to be if they

9:16

actually do pull it off, win it in five

9:18

in front of their home crowd. You were talking about

9:20

how difficult it was. I'm going to let you go after this one.

9:23

You were talking about how difficult it was to say

9:26

who your cons might front runner

9:28

should be.

9:29

We were kind of thinking about this earlier today because

9:32

again, you look at this team and it's just

9:34

a complete by committee. And

9:36

there's a bunch of guys who've been there for a long time, but

9:38

there's not like also a token vet

9:41

who to you is maybe

9:43

the choice or who do you think could potentially

9:45

end up getting the first Stanley Cup handoff

9:48

from Mark Stone because there's also not an

9:50

obvious choice there. There's a bunch of guys

9:53

who I think could be worthy of that number two spot.

9:56

Yeah, well, I think Martinez and

9:58

picture Angelo have already

9:59

they've

10:00

already had it so I think you

10:03

know they'll be willing to move back

10:05

a little bit. I

10:07

would think that Mark Stone would

10:09

take it and then it would

10:12

go to the misfits.

10:14

That would be

10:17

my guest, sorry the dogs barking. You

10:23

know what it is Julia? My wife

10:25

is finishing the fin

10:27

pancakes. Everybody's ready for

10:29

a little fin surprise here.

10:32

I like it. I also buy the package, I know

10:34

the

10:36

Hoi

10:39

Toe isn't there anymore but they sell like a package

10:41

of fin pancake mix. It's on lock

10:43

in my apartment downtown Toronto, it's a staple.

10:46

Nice, nice, nice. And where do you keep your

10:48

Persians?

10:49

The Persians are flown

10:52

in periodically. Yeah we gotta get another

10:54

drop of those. It's been about a year or so since

10:56

you brought me a Persian. I need Persians. Maybe

10:59

I could do a little run. I'll buy the little

11:01

frozen bag.

11:03

Maybe they'll mix up a little vodka

11:05

and coke and drink that out of the cup tonight.

11:08

The cocktail of

11:10

choice in Thunder Bay. That's a Thunder Bay staple?

11:14

It's gritty

11:16

but it's good. Such a gritty

11:18

gritty one. Well we'll see what happens. Hopefully

11:21

that is the drink of choice. You know I

11:23

do have some futures on Poland for Vegas.

11:26

We'll see if it ends tonight. Have

11:28

fun, enjoy the game tonight. Gary and

11:30

thank you so much for taking the time.

11:32

Thanks very much for

11:34

having me. Have a great day guys. You as well. There

11:36

you

11:37

go. Gary Lalas,

11:38

Gold Knights Insider and radio color

11:40

commentator.