00:00There's a little doom and gloom going on for the Florida Panthers
00:03after last night's game, and we'll talk about it today.
00:07George Richards is going to join us today from FloridaHockeyNow.com,
00:11but I think last night may have been the death knell
00:15for the Panthers' playoff hopes.
00:18Yeah, Solana's waving the white flag.
00:20It just, you know, they had a nice little comeback there
00:24to tie it with a couple minutes to go
00:26and just gave up a brutal goal with 30 seconds.
00:31And so even, I mean, even if you could have gotten out of there with a point,
00:36it would have helped.
00:37And just an awful way, it may be, I'm kind of absorbing Solana's take
00:44that, you know what, it's not the worst thing in the world
00:46for the Panthers to not make the playoffs.
00:48They need, they will come back next season.
00:51Now, there is the trade deadline Friday,
00:53and there is a thought that maybe Sergei Bobrovsky would be moved
00:56and we'll have to monitor that all week.
00:58I wanted to ask George Richards, but for all intents and purposes,
01:02they can come back next season with the same exact roster
01:07that they want to cup with and everyone will be rested and healthy.
01:11Yeah.
01:11So it's not like, I don't believe it's not like where the window is closing
01:18and it's time to move on.
01:21This is just one of those seasons where they have played into June
01:24three years in a row.
01:25They had the Olympics.
01:27They had injuries.
01:28And so, like, give them a breather and we come back in the next season
01:34and you're right back at the top of the league, in my opinion.
01:39Excuses or explanations.
01:41And that's what, even last night watching the game,
01:43because before I drove these damn three hours that I drive every other day
01:47of my life, I was watching the game and they put it up where Bob has started
01:51more games than any other goalie over the last three years.
01:53The Panthers played more games than any other team.
01:55Obviously, they're going to the Stanley Cup three years in a row
01:57and they're putting these numbers up there.
02:00It's not an excuse for why everybody's hurt and they're not,
02:03and, you know, and they're losing games.
02:05It's an explanation why it's just too much hockey.
02:09They're playing, I think Bob had four more starts than the second guy up
02:14or whatever it was.
02:16You go to the Stanley Cup three years in a row, you have to expect at some point
02:19you're going to hit the bell curve and it's going to go back dropping.
02:22And that's what it is.
02:23I'm not trying to make an excuse for him.
02:25You got to understand what went on the last three years.
02:27No, you're 100% correct.
02:28There's a difference between excuses and there's a difference between explanation.
02:32There is a legit explanation.
02:34It's not even like they lost any core players after the Cup last season.
02:40They really miraculously, if you remember, we were singing the praises of Bill Zito.
02:45They miraculously kept everything together.
02:47This is an explanation.
02:50They are tired.
02:51They are injured.
02:52They have played more hockey than any team in the league.
02:56And at some point, no matter what great shape you're in, it's going to catch up with you.
03:02It's an unbelievably physical game.
03:06And it's not, again, we'll see what George Richards has to say, but I don't think it's
03:10the worst thing in the world.
03:10If they miss the playoffs, recalibrate, have some time off, and you come back next season,
03:15I think your favorite's in the East.
03:17I really do.
03:17Like, that's how good the roster is.
03:19They haven't lost anybody.
03:21We haven't had a Cancun trip.
03:23Let's head to Cancun.
03:24Let's recalibrate.
03:25Let's go to Cancun.
03:27That should be the...
03:28They used to have those billboards, playoff guarantee.
03:31They should have a billboard marketing campaign with Matthew Kachuk and Sasha Barkov on it.
03:37And it just says, let's go to Cancun.
03:40Let's get out of here.
03:41Let's zig when others zag.
03:45There does seem to be some emerging news.
03:48I'll get to it later in the program.
03:49There does seem to be some emerging news that the Dolphins indeed have a legitimate interest
03:55in Malik Willis.
03:57That the notion that they're not going to spend money on a quarterback.
04:03Yeah, I think there's a little bit something going on here.
04:08I think that the Dolphins are going to have legit interest in them.
04:11That seems to be what's going on.
04:12I want to talk about that.
04:13The heat we need to talk about.
04:15They're still the eight seed.
04:16It was a nice win over Houston Saturday.
04:18But they are three and two since the All-Star break.
04:21And they needed to do better than three and two after the All-Star break.
04:25In my opinion, if you want to get out of the play-in.
04:27You know, that's what my mantra was.
04:29Like, hey, something to prove and whatever.
04:31And if you're going to bat 500 or just over 500, you're going to end up in the seven or
04:37the eight somewhere.
04:38Around there.
04:39And I must say, I must say, I know this is going to give you great joy.
04:44The Hurricanes baseball team.
04:46We found out a little bit about them when it comes to far better talent than, say, Lehigh and Lafayette
04:56and Indiana State.
04:58Indiana State.
05:01The best game that the Canes had this weekend was the game that was postponed yesterday.
05:09They lost two to the Gators, Friday and Saturday.
05:13First two losses of the season.
05:16And we move on from there.
05:19We won't easily when the Gators win.
05:21It's done now.
05:23We're not speaking about it no more.
05:24And we will move on from there.
05:26We will see who's next on the list.
05:28And we will move on from there.
05:31Hey, how would you like to see Metallica with a buddy at the Sphere in Vegas?
05:36All you have to do is listen to this radio station, 104.3 WQAM, on the app.
05:43You go to the Odyssey app.
05:44To enter, you log in.
05:45The Odyssey app is free.
05:47You log in from now till March 8th, which is Sunday.
05:52Listen for an hour or more.
05:54And you have a chance to win.
05:56Come back the next day.
05:57You get another chance to win.
05:59You have one chance per day.
06:00But you've got to listen to the app, us, for an hour each day on the app.
06:06The winner receives airfare for two, three nights hotel stay, and tickets to see Metallica at the Sphere in October.
06:14It's going to be an unbelievable show.
06:16All thanks to Q Prime.
06:18And for more info, you can go to Metallica.com.
06:21It is a national contest.
06:23But it all starts with you downloading the Odyssey app, or if you already have it, log into the Odyssey
06:30app, listen to our show on 104.3 WQAM for at least an hour a day, every day, for the
06:40next week.
06:40And it might be you going to Vegas.
06:43All right, let's do headlines.
06:45George Richards is going to join us this hour from FloridaHockeyNow.com.
06:49Headlines are brought to you by Dural Kia, home of the Pricito, our lowest price.
06:53Visit them at Dural Kia or DuralKia.com.
06:56So where would you guys like to start?
06:58Because I, too, Hawk, am intrigued by the Malik Willis rumors.
07:04But I do think, you know, the Heat do deserve some credit for winning that game the other day.
07:10The Panthers, unfortunately, it wasn't just yesterday.
07:13It was the loss on Friday night, too, to the Buffalo Sabres, because I thought they got hosed in that
07:19game with a goalie interference call that should have been called.
07:22That wasn't.
07:23You know, I was at that game.
07:25I don't know what I was missing because I, you know, I could only look for the, I mean, we
07:29saw the replays on the big scoreboard.
07:31But then, you know, it just moves on with the game.
07:33And so I'm not listening to the analysts talk about it.
07:36That, to me, looked like one of the most obvious goalie interference calls that one could make.
07:41And even as it happened, you know, I'm texting with a pal.
07:44He wasn't at the game.
07:45And he's like, what's going to happen?
07:46And I'm like, this is going to be the quickest overturn of a call you've ever seen.
07:50And then I was like, what's taking so long?
07:52What's taking so long?
07:52I, to this moment, do not understand how that goal was allowed.
07:59Yeah, it was pretty obvious.
08:00Like, Tarasov, his entire glove was hit by one of my Buffalo Sabres.
08:07So, you know, even me, the biggest Buffalo Sabres fan in the world, would be able to admit rationally that
08:14that should have been goalie interference.
08:16That game could have gone to overtime.
08:17The Panthers, at the very least, would have gotten a point.
08:19And then yesterday, to tie the game up 4-4 with a minute to go and then to blow it
08:25because this Aaron Ekblad is still a traffic cone.
08:28I mean, I just don't understand.
08:30No, we are not doing that after three trips to the Stanley Cup.
08:34Like, no, we are absolutely not doing that.
08:39Ekblad's the reason, huh?
08:40Well, he was last night, but we are not doing that.
08:44We are absolutely not.
08:45We are so far beyond that.
08:48If I was in studio with you, I would smack your face.
08:52What's funny is, it looked like it was Ekblad who, I mean, he got skated right by, but I was
08:59reading on Twitter from people who actually know hockey, because clearly I do not, that it was Gus Forsling who
09:05should have been there in support as well with 31 seconds to go.
09:08It just was a weird lapse.
09:09It was a weird lapse by a very good team, but whatever.
09:13Well, all the numbers, Hawk, this is what is most concerning to me, and a lot of people have been
09:18putting out numbers kind of leading to the same situation here, the same major concern with the Panthers.
09:25But I thought Tim Reynolds from the Associated Press, this really summed it up.
09:29The Panthers were tied, he tweeted last night, with a minute to go and didn't get a point.
09:34Times that happened, the last five seasons combined, two times.
09:39Times this season alone, three.
09:41And there's a lot of numbers right now that are pointing out the save percentage in the third period is
09:48worst in the NHL.
09:50They're not able to close out tight games, and that was one of their strong attributes over the three Stanley
09:57Cup runs.
09:58Like, close game at the end, or they're down a goal, they're up a goal, they're going to grind it
10:02out some way.
10:03Wouldn't that lead you, like, doesn't that extrapolate out to having no legs, like being tired?
10:09They're tired.
10:11Yeah.
10:11We done played a lot of hockey, now we're getting into five minutes left, I'm tired as hell, man.
10:16Tear us off, I can't bend these knees for two more hours, hell, I need to get off this ice.
10:21They're tired.
10:22And not having Barky in those moments, like, imagine taking LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo or Luka out in clutch
10:31moments.
10:32Like, you want your best players on the ice.
10:34Those guys do so much.
10:35You know, I think it's the legs, but also not having your best player in there.
10:41Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:41I mean, I say injuries, like, as this general phrase.
10:45Also, it's the injury of their best player who has not been available the entire season, nor will he be.
10:51It probably deserves more explanation than me just saying injuries.
10:57Yeah.
10:58Next man up, my butt.
10:59Right.
11:00Your Hall of Famer is gone?
11:02Yeah.
11:02Come on, man.
Comments