A Nice Long Wait

Ryan Lambert· Host0:00

[upbeat music] Folks, I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects.

Sean McIndoe· Host0:14

I am Sean McIndoe from The Athletic.

Ryan Lambert· Host0:16

And I don't know if you know this, Sean. There's already a team in the Eastern Conference Finals, and that team, of course, the Florida Panthers. They're back. They did it.

Sean McIndoe· Host0:26

Damn.

Ryan Lambert· Host0:27

Yeah.

Sean McIndoe· Host0:28

Playing the long game.

Ryan Lambert· Host0:29

Th- this is why they're champions, you know?

Sean McIndoe· Host0:33

Yeah.

Ryan Lambert· Host0:33

They said, "We can just show up for the third round," and th- and the league was like, "Obviously, we agree. Look at how- Yeah ... the last three third rounds have gone."

Sean McIndoe· Host0:40

Yeah, exactly.

Ryan Lambert· Host0:41

So.

Sean McIndoe· Host0:42

This feels early.

Ryan Lambert· Host0:44

Uh- Feels early for a team to be through. It's ... I, you know, it's, it's crazy.

Sean McIndoe· Host0:48

Have the other series started yet?

Ryan Lambert· Host0:49

Y- yeah, well, the, I mean, that's the thing, right, is they had already played two games in that series because they swept [laughs] in the first round as well. Uh, they had already played two games in their series before, uh, Montreal and Buffalo played any, and consequently, they are done before Montreal and Buffalo had played two.

Sean McIndoe· Host1:11

You know that thing- Now, I don't know why they didn't space that out better, but that's just how it goes. [laughs] And, I mean, in fairness to the league, they s- they did it like this because the way the first round played out, we would've had a Saturday night with no hockey.

Ryan Lambert· Host1:27

Right.

Sean McIndoe· Host1:28

At, like,