00:00we're halfway home here on newswire on sports grid and thrilled to welcome in our next guest
00:04we'll go from the association the nba and a late season playoff push to the ice and the same theme
00:10in the nhl with denny bernstein who is from sirius xm nhl radio host of the fourth period and good
00:19to see you here denny great to have you on the show fascinating last few days few games in the
00:25nhl season that we have in front of us obviously you know i want to start with washington i guess
00:31going a little bit off the ice with alex ovechkin who it just seems like this guy you know the
00:36future
00:36hall of famer may never retire and why should he if he's going out there and scoring goals at will
00:40the way that he does he announced that he will decide over the summer about his future and whether
00:45or not he's going to play next season doesn't know if it's the end or not i appreciate that he's
00:50not
00:51it seems at least going to do the farewell tour thing he's either going to hang them up or he's
00:56not but he's not necessarily going to tell people when that time is right be it now a year from
01:00now
01:00what do you make of uh of ovechkin's path and what to expect well adam what's the legacy is cemented
01:08he's the greatest goal scorer of all time uh he's uh he set the record you know for for that
01:13he passed
01:14a record that no one thought would ever be so he's won a championship he's won a stanley
01:20cup people remember he's swimming in the pools and the fountains in moscow with the stanley cup
01:25there's really nothing more to play for except again and to have fun as you mentioned they're
01:32not in the playoffs washington traded his best friend on the team joe carson i think down the
01:37stretch he's not playing with the joy he needs play i think and this is just a pure guess i
01:42think
01:43he's going to call quits because there's really nothing more for him to go to he can go play in
01:47the
01:47khl in russia for one year then retire get out of tour i don't think players care about doing one
01:53last lap around the league i think he's going to sit down when he's feeling over the summer and
01:56think he's going to think to himself there's nothing more to do playing this game and walk away
02:04well exhilarating to watch him obviously like you said the legacy very much cemented now teams are
02:09trying to cement their place here late in the regular season with the playoffs right around the
02:13corner and in the atlantic division the buffalo sabers who are just having an incredible year
02:19especially compared to expectation this team you know after a third period comeback win over the
02:23rangers over at msg the race probably going to come down to the final regular season game next week with
02:29the lightning the canadiens trailing by only a couple of points as well we could look at the odds
02:33there they are to win the atlantic you're looking at plus money across the board sabers plus 110 then the
02:38lightning at plus 130 5 to 1 on montreal if you were to invest how does this unfold
02:46i really like buffalo i do now i know they have no play of experience because it's been what 15
02:51years since it's been there and since they've been to the postseason but i just like the way they play
02:56guys they have speed they have skill they have goaltending now and that's the one thing that
03:00changed for this team that's why i got so hot they got two goaltenders who's won over 20 games in
03:04this league this year which is a pretty good amount for a nhl fan so i think they i think
03:09they're a live team i put a ticket on them to get them to a stanley cup i think it's
03:13that wide open
03:14yes when you handicap the teams adam on paper temper bay is the best but they're a little older they've
03:21been a little banged up i think the sabers are a live bet in any series um and and to
03:26get to a
03:26stanley cup final i will say this this is likely to lose the first round or any series because
03:32we they are going into uncharted territory with respect to their experience uh other than one
03:36or two players they haven't played in the stanley cup playoffs one thing that i think is unique to
03:44hockey you don't really see this in the nba are these late season coaching changes for teams that
03:49are just you know either on the outside looking in looking to make a push even teams that look
03:54pretty cemented to be playoff teams that don't like the way they are playing now it's not something
03:58we never see mike malone for instance the new head coach at north carolina for the basketball team
04:03he was replaced late in the year by the denver nugget right before the postseason last year and
04:08generally speaking it they didn't win the championship but it did work out well i feel
04:12like we see this more regularly though in hockey including a couple of times just in the last week
04:16john tortorella who has had a thousand tours of duty i think in the nhl replacing bruce cassidy there
04:23in vegas and this team hasn't lost you know the new voice at least has worked four straight wins here
04:29for the golden knights now i thought the cassidy first in boston quite frankly but then in vegas
04:34kind of got a raw deal on both occasions but you can't argue with the results i suppose
04:40you can but i wouldn't plan the parade yet in vegas because they beat vancouver which is
04:44the week twice and calgary which is out of it they had a nice win against edmonton so let's see
04:49what
04:49happens and the expectations are so high that if they win the last five games to the season and
04:56nine game winnings you're going in and losing the first round ownership won't be happy it's a
05:00suppose that they raise the expectation and that's why adam you see these late seasons closing changes
05:05because with the sky right one team was in the playoffs the islanders were two points out of the
05:10plants but when you watch the islanders play and that's why they went to peter deborah over matt
05:15over patrick waugh i mean one game they were 35 to 6 and it's a clear indication the team is
05:21not
05:21playing hard for the coach anymore so while it's still a rarity adam that to do that but you're
05:26right it happens more in the nhl i since why because the vegas golden knights as good as this team
05:31are
05:32and how the expectations were coming into the season no team has trailed more during games than the
05:37vegas golden knights they have a great team they're great come from behind team i'm not sure that's going
05:42to work in the postseason because the game changes so we'll see what torts has done but you have to
05:46respect torts's track record um so that's why it's give this team a shock and so far it's worked
05:55one situation better than the other this one versus pete deborah getting uh you know a sixth head
06:00coaching opportunity over the last two decades well i think the vegas opportunity is better because
06:06right now the islanders are three points out with four games to play and they have to climb over a
06:10couple of teams they backed away so basically they dropped pete deborah in there and said
06:14win us four straight games when we're not playing well now pete guy he got tenure he got multi-year
06:20deal so he's not really necessarily worried about this season i think that's the more difficult job
06:25as we spend the last week of the season more so than vegas who clearly will be in the playoffs
06:30they win one or two more games connor mcdavid who again you know we talk about guys like yokich sga
06:37wemby in the nba mcdavid in the nhl just one of those guys you could give the mvp to every
06:43single
06:43year with the way that he performs single-handedly uh damaged the san jose sharks playoff chances last
06:49night one of the best games of his career five points 15th career hat trick a 5-2 victory there
06:55for edmonton you know what is this guy short of obviously hosting the stanley cup which i know he's
07:02been runner-up a couple of times now does this guy have anything left to achieve
07:08uh other than winning the stanley cup no he when we talk about the heart trophy which is the mvp
07:13the for the nhl guys like nikita kucherov in tampa sure last night macron so and i i love the
07:20juxtaposition last night adam mac macron celebrini scores the first goal of the game early against
07:26edmonton and then david said mac you're going to be really good but watch me five point game hat
07:32trick right so there's nothing more him for him to set his personal legacy but the big man is winning
07:40a championship right so that's the question can he do that is this team good enough around him to
07:45win that i don't think so and i'll say that one thing about voting for him the mvp he wasn't
07:50the
07:50favorite but edmonton 6-1 in the last eight games they haven't played any with leon drysaddle who's
07:56probably the second best player in the league and zach hyman who scored 50 goals in this league
07:59this has been a virtuoso economy david and it might change some voters minds about the mvp
08:05so i wouldn't mind playing a ticket on economy david for uh for mvp at this point in time because
08:10of
08:11the performance down the street nearly every team in the nhl in action tonight denny where are you
08:18going to have your eyes obviously some games mattering more than others at this
08:23well pittsburgh can clinch a payoff spot and they've been a miracle team people thought they
08:28would be contending for the last place in the nhl so i like them on the money line and i
08:33like vegas
08:34against the flames on the money line uh because they're playing another team that is out of it so
08:38i think those are two teams two games i'm looking at pittsburgh and vegas tonight
08:43all right again denny bernstein over with sirius xm nhl radio really appreciate the time here and
08:49looking forward to what should be a really fun playoff push for these line last few games for
08:54for these various teams but then obviously into the postseason there's nothing better when it comes
08:59to playoff sports than uh than the stanley cup playoff so should be an exhilarating couple of
09:04months ahead of us it's great being on sports great adam thanks for the time i appreciate it
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