While everyone’s buzzing with playoff fever, the broadcasting vibes seem to be throwing a wet blanket over all that NHL excitement—at least if you ask the fans. Just a few days ago, TNT found itself in the hot seat once again, with fans calling them out for not delivering playoff-level magic, even with the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, sitting pretty on their panel. Fast forward to Game 3 between the Oilers and Kings, and yep, the complaints came flying in hotter than a slapshot. Neil Pierre-Louis, the mastermind behind NHL xG Bot, hopped on X on April 26 to spill the tea, posting, “Here is a comparison of the GWG for Oilers Kings on TNT (remote broadcast) and Sportsnet (in person),” alongside two clips that showed exactly why fans are straight-up fed up.

While TNT’s remote commentary tried its best to capture Evan Bouchard’s fifth goal for the Oilers, the lack of that thunderous crowd roar made it fall kinda flat. Meanwhile, Sportsnet? They had the building shaking with real-deal fan energy—and honestly, the difference was night and day. And it’s not just Neil throwing shade—renowned hockey expert Braylon Breeze didn’t hold back either. He fired off on X, saying, “TNT Sports pays $225M a year for NHL rights, yet it’s somehow ‘too expensive’ to send commentators to numerous playoff games,” calling the setup totally “subpar” for fans hungry for that playoff passion. And now, TNT’s ongoing broadcasting slip-ups are pouring even more fuel on the fire, leaving already frustrated NHL fans boiling after the latest Capitals vs Habs game mess.

NHL Announcer Schedules hopped on X on April 27 to call out TNT’s ongoing struggles, saying, “TNT Sports’ woes continue…this was the screen on TBS for Caps–Canadiens until they switched to the SN feed.” Yep, you guessed it—a preview screen with the team logos and the words “STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS” plastered across it. Definitely not the vibe fans were hoping for.

Braylon Breeze had his own say, and it was pretty hard-hitting. “Feels like TNT’s three seasons of building a positive relationship with NHL fans has been wiped out. First was the remote broadcasts, then audio/postgame issues for Canes–Devils, and now full-on technical difficulties for Caps–Canadiens, leading to using the SN feed. Yikes.” Seems like the issues just keep piling up for TNT, leaving fans scratching their heads.

And just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, NHL news threw in a little jab, saying, “The funniest (or worst) part of this year’s playoffs has to be the US TV broadcasters making Sportsnet look like an A+ product.” Ouch. Looks like TNT’s attempts to find their rhythm with fans are running into some major bumps.

And it’s not the first rodeo for TNT’s broadcast struggles, and Braylon Breeze was ready to call it out. On April 19th, he dropped some NHL truth bombs on X, lighting up the feed about TNT’s remote setup for a primetime Stanley Cup Playoff game. “A Saturday primetime opening game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is being called remotely from a studio in Atlanta — with odd camera shots and pretty abysmal crowd audio. It’s unacceptable and clearly a bad look for the league, to say the least.”

Want to go further back? Let’s rewind to last year’s Game 3 of the Round 2 between the Edmonton Oilers and the Canucks. Stuart Skinner had been manning the net for the Oilers until Calvin Pickard was sent in at the beginning of the third period. But the TNT broadcasting team of Alex Faust and Jennifer Botterill hadn’t noticed it until—take a wild guess—it had already been 3 whole minutes since the change. All this because TNT wasn’t sending people to call games in Canada.

Coming back to the present. While the broadcast may have ruined the fans’ experience a bit, Game 4 between the Capitals and the Canadiens itself was a treat for both neutral fans and certainly for those supporting the Caps.

NHL playoffs season continues with another W for the Caps!

Brandon Duhaime had himself a night, scoring twice in a wild four-goal surge for the Washington Capitals, who fought back to grab a 5-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Bell Centre. With the Capitals now holding a 3-1 series lead, they’re just one win away from locking in a spot in the second round. All eyes are on Game 5 at home this Wednesday, where they’ll have a chance to seal the deal. Dylan Strome pitched in with a goal and an assist, while Andrew Mangiapane delivered the go-ahead goal late in the third. With the Capitals holding down the top seed in the East, things are looking pretty solid for them as they push toward the next stage.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing though—Logan Thompson, who took a hit during Game 3 of the NHL round 1 playoffs, made 16 saves but had to tough it out after a third-period injury. On the other side, Montreal’s rookie goalie Jakub Dobes stepped up with 21 saves in his first Stanley Cup Playoff start after Sam Montembeault left the game due to injury. The Canadiens, though, still had some fight in them. Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield each netted a power-play goal to keep things interesting, and Ivan Demidov and Lane Hutson were busy dishing out assists, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Capitals’ offensive storm.

Duhaime’s second goal was pure chaos. He tied it up 2-2 midway through the third, with a rebound that trickled through after Dobes made an initial save. Mangiapane soon pushed the Caps ahead 3-2, catching Dobes off guard with a slick glove-side shot from the high slot. Then, Duhaime iced the game with an empty-netter at 17:21, followed by Tom Wilson adding another empty-net goal with just 55 seconds left. It was a perfect finish to a comeback that had the Caps’ fans buzzing and Montreal wondering what might’ve been.