Once Upon A Playoff Run

Episode 39 is a loaded one. Montreal just pulled off back-to-back Game 7 wins — beating Tampa Bay and now Buffalo in OT on an Alex Newhook dagger — and somehow the Habs are in the Eastern Conference Final against a Carolina team that went 8-0 and hasn't played in over ten days. We break down every angle of that matchup: the momentum, the special teams problem, Jakub Dobes embracing the underdog role, and why Montreal swept Carolina in the regular season.Out West, Vegas and Colorado drop the puck tomorrow night in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. Mitch Marner leads the entire playoffs in points, MacKinnon is hunting another Cup, and Tortorella is making his first-ever Conference Final after getting fined $100K and stripped of a second-round pick for refusing to open the locker room post-series. We dig into the keys for both sides — the Hart vs. Wedgewood goalie battle, the Makar vs. Theodore blue line war, and whether Mark Stone's health becomes a series-defining issue.Beyond the playoffs, we've got Celebrini captaining Canada at the World Championship with Crosby literally on the roster, Team USA's rocky 1-2 start at Worlds, a full Memorial Cup field preview with Everett, Kitchener, Chicoutimi, and host Kelowna, and a wave of CHL-to-NCAA pipeline moves reshaping the college hockey landscape