00:00Okay, let's shift gears and get to the Red Wings.
00:03Here's the formula.
00:05One team plays the night before.
00:08You don't.
00:10This is what they call scheduled loss.
00:12Is this not a scheduled loss for Pittsburgh?
00:15Is this not the kind of game that the Red Wings have to win?
00:18Is this not exactly the same game that they lost last week?
00:24When was it the Bruins?
00:26No, it wasn't the Bruins.
00:27It was Ottawa.
00:28Ottawa came in here with a depleted lineup on the second night of back-to-backs
00:32and beat the Red Wings 3-2.
00:35Now it's the Penguins.
00:37Dude, you've got to win this game.
00:40You do have to win this game.
00:42And the problem is that Pittsburgh's in a battle, too.
00:46They're second in the Metro with 90 points,
00:48but the Islanders, who they beat last night, have 89 points.
00:53And then you've got Columbus at 88 points.
00:56Everything's tight.
00:57So they need to win this game as much as the Red Wings do.
01:01Well, I mean, Pittsburgh right now is three points into the playoffs.
01:06Detroit is two points out of the playoffs.
01:09So, yes.
01:11But on the back-to-back thing, what do you think?
01:14I mean, are they going to take advantage of it this week?
01:16Because they didn't last week.
01:17And that was massively disappointing.
01:20It was a deflating loss for this fan base,
01:23for those of us that still thought they had a shot,
01:26that hadn't given up yet.
01:27Look, you've got a coach that's called them out publicly time and time and again,
01:30did it again over the weekend.
01:32You've got a fan base that is just pissed about how things have gone.
01:37Same old, same old, right?
01:39And now they're deflated and they've moved on.
01:42Hey, baseball season or let's go Pistons.
01:45You've got players that no doubt are questioning what's going on as well.
01:50Why is this happening again?
01:52They've had a couple days off.
01:54All the advantages are there for them.
01:56They've got all the motivation in the world to get out there and do it.
01:59And they've had extra rest.
02:00And they're taking on a team that just played last night.
02:03And a team that got down 3-1 and came back and won the game by 8-3, by the
02:07way.
02:09Yeah, there are advantages, but I don't know if this team is a playoff-built team.
02:15I don't know if they are either, but it's a good time.
02:17And Pittsburgh is.
02:18It's a good time to prove it.
02:19I am Mazer curious.
02:23Carter Mazer curious?
02:24Yeah.
02:25What is – is he going to play tonight?
02:27Yeah.
02:28He is going to play tonight.
02:29Yeah, they've got him skating on a third line with Comfer and Perron.
02:34He played 10 minutes the other night.
02:36He admitted he was really, really nervous, but he's looking forward to the next game
02:39because he thinks all those nerves are out and he's ready to go.
02:44Look, he had 11 goals in 14 or 15 games down at Grand Rapids.
02:50He can provide some scoring, you hope.
02:52But I don't know how much you're expecting from him.
02:54Not you, but the Red Wings in general.
02:57Is there a spark he can provide?
02:59Maybe.
03:00I mean, is it more so than what Dominic Schein has provided?
03:03Would that be the same kind of spark?
03:04Or Sheldon Drys?
03:06You know, the guys – John Leonard, the guys that came up from Grand Rapids
03:09that really want to make the squad.
03:13I'd like to see, you know, some of those Grand Rapids guys that have been up here,
03:17I'd like to see them stay up here because they are playing for their future.
03:21They're playing for their careers.
03:23And a lot of these other guys are established veterans
03:25and maybe the fire just isn't in there as much as it would be for somebody else.
03:30Carter Mazur wants to be a Red Wing.
03:31Wants to be an everyday player.
03:33So I'm looking forward to see what he can do,
03:35but I'm not sure if it's going to make much of a difference.
03:37And what about John Gibson?
03:39How are we feeling about John Gibson?
03:41A couple more days off for him.
03:43The goalie.
03:43Yeah.
03:44The showing that he had on Saturday night was not good.
03:48Not a good look for him.
03:50Played back-to-back nights.
03:52He's – I think he's played more – now he's gone past the 50-game plateau,
03:57which typically hasn't gone well for him in his career.
04:02But with the extra time off, maybe he's fresh and ready to go.
04:06And if he is, great to playing on the road.
04:08He plays great on the road like that.
04:10But I think he's a key to look for down the stretch here.
04:14Red Wings might have to be a little bit more careful
04:16than they thought they were going to have to be with John Gibson
04:18and how much they use him and maybe rely on Talbot
04:22or whether it's Postava or Sebastian Kosa.
04:25If one of those guys gets a shot, which I doubt.
04:27I was about to say, do you think?
04:28No, I think it's going to be Talbot.
04:30But if Talbot – he did mispractice last week with some undisclosed injury.
04:35So if he tweaks that and has to go out, somebody else has to step up.
04:39And I think it's bad news if they have to go with Gibson in back-to-back games.
04:44I haven't looked at the schedule to see how many more times that happens.
04:46I think it's twice more.
04:49So it's an uphill battle for the Red Wings, but it's not done either
04:54because there is so much congestion in the Eastern Conference
04:58for these wild-card spots.
05:01And the Red Wings now have a game in hand over Boston and Columbus,
05:06who are both ahead of them in the wild-card spot.
05:08Oh, I've been saying it for a while.
05:09I guess a while going back to last week.
05:12I think I'm kind of starting to like this team on the road more than at home.
05:15I think they definitely feel less pressure when they're on the road.
05:22It was not a good homestand for them.
05:24Whether it's less pressure or it just somehow brings out the best in them,
05:28like maybe they need to have everybody against them.
05:32Look, I'm looking for something here because –
05:34You're desperate, man.
05:35Yes, thank you.
05:36Yes, thank you.
05:37You are reaching.
05:37Because I heard you talking about that last week
05:40when they played against a depleted team and lost.
05:42You're like, well, maybe you need to go against a full-strength team.
05:44Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
05:47I wanted to put them on the road and see how they responded,
05:49and then they did, Kang.
05:51They did.
05:52So looking ahead at their schedule.
05:54However, there is an element of desperation of what the hell –
05:58how can they be better than they've been?
06:00So let's talk about it.
06:01So the next three games are on the road,
06:04and they're spaced out Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
06:09I would bet those are all going to be Gibson starts.
06:12They play Sunday at home.
06:14So probably not a Gibson start, which is good for two reasons.
06:17You don't have to play back-to-back,
06:18and they're playing at home,
06:21which he's getting much better splits on the road than he is at home.
06:24Then it's back to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Monday.
06:27So they only have one more time this year
06:28where they're playing back-to-back games, and it's this weekend.
06:31But the problem is just only nine games left.
06:35You've probably got to win eight of them, seven of them.
06:41Look, when you get into situations like this,
06:43I fall back on one of the all-time coaching greats
06:46who has said something that I think we have all –
06:48anybody who's heard it once has probably repeated it in their life.
06:52And it was said a while ago, but it's true even to this day.
06:57And the saying is, y'all better win a game.
07:02Y'all better win a game.
07:03And that was spoken to you by your freshman year high school football coach.
07:08That's right.
07:10Muta Shamaka, a.k.a. George Bard.
07:12That's right.
07:13And I will quote George Bard,
07:16professionally for the rest of my life,
07:18when it's appropriate, y'all better win a game.
07:22Yeah, well, unfortunately, he'll call for an end of it a lot sooner than Muta did
07:26because it was – at this point, we're all going to go 9-0.
07:31Right.
07:32We're all going to go 8-1.
07:34And that's it.
07:36You go 7-2.
07:37You may not make it.
07:387-2 may not help.
07:39Here's a really scary prospect for the end of the season.
07:44If the Red Wings are in it down to the last game,
07:47that last game is at Florida.
07:49There's, like, a Chuck that plays for Florida.
07:52Please, please don't let that happen.
07:54It's Carson Anderson, 97-1.
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