The Athletic Hockey Show - Florida Panthers lead Stanley Cup Final 2 games to none

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

Sean Gentille and Shayna Goldman discuss the Florida Panthers 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers in game two of the Stanley Cup Final, the lack of scoring chances for the Oilers, the injury to Darnell Nurse, the brilliance of defensive wizard Sasha Barkov and if Connor McDavid and company will have an answer to the Panthers in game three of the series in Edmonton on Thursday night. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. Good evening. Good morning. Probably not good afternoon. This is the athletic hockey show. It's the SG edition. We haven't done one of these in a while. Sean Gentiley, Shana Goldman.

Coming to you after game two of Panthers Oilers. Florida wins 4-1. Goes up 2-0 in the series. It just happened. The game ended like the game ended like five minutes ago, let's say. Shana, what is your initial thought? What is like the top line takeaway for Shana Goldman from that game? The Panthers were the better team and deserved to win.

And it kind of felt like we could have had a moment where this would have been a series. Like, do you remember around one like way, way back when it was Vancouver and Nashville? And you were like, is the better team winning each game truly? And it didn't happen. It felt like it could have been that vibe. If Edmonton ran with it after Florida. Kind of got outplayed last game, but, uh,

you know, that didn't happen. So the better team won. Yay. Good storyline. You and me have as many high danger scoring chances tonight as Edmonton did at five on five. We're really good players.

I'm great. I know that. You, like what like seriously, what is what are, what are we supposed to do with that? Like, like,

that's, that's a uniquely Florida thing. I think we've seen developed over the last little bit. that the way they found a way to lock down games in the third period too i think those are through lines right not just through the series but through their playoffs overall you know that kind of ability to turn in like a modern sort of defensive master class like that's was my thought as i was watching this like this is what good defense looks like in 2024 and and i think florida is such a great example of that because they do it through they do it through puckdom and

They also do it. They do it through physicality. And it's a really well-rounded game that just puts them. It's such a major advantage, not just at the start of these games, but at the end, too. Yeah. And you see it with guys like Barkoff and Forreling leading the way. They're disruptive and smart. They're not taking themselves out of position, throwing their bodies in front of block shots.

Like you might think of like a hard, heavy defense, which doesn't work as well in today's game. And it really doesn't work against McDavid and Drysettle because those are two players that can make you look stupid. And if you take yourself out of position, good luck catching up to either one of them. And so you see them anticipating plays and reading plays and being smart. And it's the little details. Like with Barkoff, you could see, you know, the way he was kind of not allowing McDavid to get near the puck in the first period. And he was protecting it so well because the second you let McDavid have it, good luck.

Or you saw on the penalty kill at times, there was a shift where Barkoff blocked the shot against Dreisadl immediately got back in position and just was disruptive. So he didn't have as much room to do anything. and was able to clear the puck out. Like those are the types of smart defensive play that you need in today's game. It's a proactive style. And you're not just forcing your opponent. You're not only playing defense against Edmonton.

They're forcing them to play offense. And I think maybe the most interesting part of it too is like, how many of us went into the series going? Well, it's the Panthers forecheck against the Euler's rush game. And did we forget the Panthers two years ago were the best rush base team in the league? And they're not all that different today. They're just more well-rounded. you're seeing these scoring plays coming off the rush too.

So it melds that perfect, like, high-end offense with good defense. In another thing about two of those scoring plays, especially in the third period, they are such an opportunity. They've become such an opportunistic team where there's good finishers all over that lineup. We saw it from Evan Rodriguez tonight. He scored twice? Three times. Twice.

He didn't. He didn't get. He didn't get one of the last goals that I wasn't really paying attention to. That's good. But I look at the second one, which is the tie-breaking goal, it was one that put Florida up to one. Evan Bouchard makes like the big mistake, which like for as great as we've,

as great as he's been, Edmonton is not here without him. He's leveled up across the board, right? We've, I know you, me, everybody at some point during this postseason has been like Evan Bouchard is a dude now. He's not top 20.

not top 15, like this is a top 10 at minimum defenseman in the league, based on what he can do. And he has shown every sign of, you know, being that sort of guy for many, many years. That said, tonight was, it was like Evan Bouchard from a year and a half ago, right? Where he's got the botch clear, ends up on Rodriguez's stick. Rodriguez capitalizes in a big way. Then boom, they're up, they're up to one. that was at the start of the third period. Then the Florida Panthers third period God mode activates.

And, you know, at that point, it felt like they might as well not even have played the last 17 minutes of that game. I know it's obviously not true. But they have that feel of inevitability when there's a lead in the third period for them, right? It's their 51-0 and whatever it is, whatever that crazy stat would keep seeing, going back to January of 2023, you know, you don't just get there by having good players. Like there's, it's good players, you know, playing the right style of hockey at the,

at the right time. And I think, I think we're seeing that writ pretty large here. Yeah. And like, if you look by the numbers, like the oilers controlled play for parts of the third period, it looks like, but it's just like what you said is the panther is, they don't play passively. They play tight defense. And then they were opportunistic when the opportunities arise.

And you saw that with both of Rodriguez's goals. And even, you know, like the oilers caught a break there. They could have been down. You would have thought maybe a five-minute major and been without Jai's for longer, depending how that, uh, totally chick wing up went was called.

It's always tricky to know how that's going to be called to because I love when you're watching the broadcast and it's like, well, it could be this and then, but it also could be this. So we're not wrong here no matter what we say, which is really something every game. But, you know, like it could have been worse for them.

And yet they kind of got those lucky breaks there and it still did not work out in their favor and you know it's tough with the oilers because i feel like they're a team we all watch and we're all like we kind of wait for them to screw up right because of their defense and be so volatile and because of their goaltending and like you don't want to see it be volatile off bouchard's stick it kind of goes back to the beginning of the season like how quick was everybody to jump when he made a mistake and when he made a mistake it was so glaring you just don't see them that often but like you expect it from the other players if it's coming from him it's it's a bigger problem to have because you need him to be one of those guys to give you that spark.

Yep. And that's the curse of talent, I think, with someone like Evan Bouchard. It's like, for me, so much stuff always comes back to the Pittsburgh Penguins because I'm based in Pittsburgh. Like, I've seen it from Chris Latang, who's a guy, by the way, who Evan Bouchard reminds me of in a lot in a lot of different ways. And I think, I think it was on the wrong side of the spectrum for Edmonton fans tonight. Like, that's just that sometimes that's the way it goes.

When you have guys who are used to trying stuff that a lot of other dudes don't, like, stuff's going to happen. And it reared its head at a pretty an opportune time for Edmonton. We saw some chippiness in this game, too, which I feel you definitely alluded to it with the dry sidle elbow to Alexander Barkov. It's him pretty square in the job. Barkov left the game, didn't come back. that penalty is what led to to Rodriguez's second goal on the Bouchard botch job

that we've been talking about for the last couple minutes. That was not the only chippiness of the night. We saw A2 Listerinen go down knee on knee from Warren Fogel pretty early. Lots of post whistle stuff. Get ready to see the gif of Aaron Eckblad having

Evan Bouchard in a headlock for the rest of your life too, by the way. That was some, that was some post whistle, you know, shenanigans. I feel like we leveled up a bit in that regard tonight as well, right? Like, game one, game one didn't, didn't have that. And so we got, we got some added spiciness. It's just a matter of, you know, what the carryover is to game three, right?

Yeah, I mean, you have that Carrick Spear at the end of the game there. Like, can't, can't do that. You could see how things are getting a little bit like unhinged and even guys like Dairnay or you know they're getting into it and it's tough like obviously if you're an official at that point you're going to just start throwing players out because you're like now you're managing the game the game's out of reach now you're managing it but you know it's not it's not the best look but obviously like emotions get going and things like that and I know everyone kind of jumps when it's the Panthers too they're they're not here to make friends in the postseason which like

hey good for them you know they play like a hard style but you you kind of see that a lot like well they got away with this or that and then even that could Chuck play at the end of the game, which I thought, you know, going between McDavid's legs, like, I thought it was just a desperation defensive play, but even that, like, some are like, no, that should have been a hook. It should have been this or that because, like, it was getting chippy around it. So I feel like every little thing is going to be like under the microscope. But it's kind of what you expect in a series.

You see a lot of each other. This is what's going to happen. And when you're down in a game and trailing, like you're going to get frustrated. Hopefully it doesn't lead to anything serious. Like that potential barkoff injury, he didn't return. Like, you know, you don't want to see them lose their. best player. You don't, like, if you're a fan of the oilers, obviously, you do, but like anyone else, like, it, it just brings down the game. It's a bummer. It's definitely a bummer. And I, I,

you know, we all, to some, to some degree, so many of us, you know, you, you want to see physical hockey. You don't mind seeing a little chippiness. That's part of the game. It's when it crosses over in that line where you're talking about Alexander Barkoff, potentially missing time or whatever. Lister Hinen was, it was a millimeter from, you know, missing next season. I, I, I think. So it's good to see him back. But yeah, I, a Pomerie said that, you know, he said, uh, in an in game interview, he was, uh, this is a paraphrase, but he was like, you know, we've come this far. You just want to see every player on each team be able to finish it out. It would be, it would be a real bummer, you know, to, to see that borne out at this point.

Especially when he's still at first hand last year, right? Like, we look at the panther. He's like, loose around and you look at and you're like, he broke his leg and couldn't finish the stand like a final last year. And you know all of the injuries that piled up like, I'm glad it was broken. Montour was. broken. Obviously you check with broken stern. I'm like they get to you obviously are going to be hurt by the time we get to the final. Who among us isn't hurt at this point of the season? But you don't want it that you are so broken that you cannot finish the series, which is what happened to the Panthers. So you don't want to see for any side of it. Like yes, everyone's going

to be dealing with something. But you want quality games at this point of the year personally. I mean, you want to go out on a high. You don't want it that you get this far and you just walk through your opponent. And you don't want to see it that someone like Barkoff, like he He is someone that could be one of the most interesting storylines when the Oilers have home ice advantage, right? Because they can control where things go and how McDavid is and who he's matching up against a lot more. So you can see him freed up because Arcoff's doing his job very well. Like you don't want to miss that. Finish up with some game three thoughts after the break.

So the series has the Edmonton for game three that's on Thursday night, meaning we have a two-night break. The first of a dozen, I feel like during the series somehow. Don't do the math. It works out in one or another. Edmonton's looking at potentially being without darnall nurse, you know, tried to come back at a few different points during that game. It didn't work out,

which means more Cody C.C. That's typically not a great thing for Edmonton. Yeah, probably not, especially last game. You look at, what was it the second? The first goal, they both looked bad. The second goal, he definitely made a pretty big mistake in game one. So, I mean, the one thing is, like, for Edmonton,

And I feel like they're going to have to choose which of them to play at this point because it really needs to be one or the other, not both. I know like against the stars, the adjustment was playing both on separate pairs. And oddly, they went away from that on game one. So they might miss the opportunity for that. So now we'll see what it looks like. If it's C.C., can they shelter him enough? Do they trust anyone to step up for a nurse? Like, it's not a situation they want to be in as much as nurses struggled.

Like, that is the top six mainstay that they have. Like they didn't edit the deadline and that could bite them. also get kind of a day off for Sergey Bobrovsky tonight after after game one. He didn't face a ton of shots. They certainly didn't need to need him to be as good as he was in game three. It'll be interesting to see what

version of the Panthers we get in Edmonton, right? Is it the guys we saw in game one that needed the goalie bailout at times or is it or is it the dudes we saw in game two should be interesting. We also might get mad Connor McDavid. That is probably the biggest thing

that we should be on the lookout for. Post game, this is via our buddy Chris Johnston. Connor McDavid, I'm looking forward to people doubting us again. Let's go, Connor. Let's go. Angry Connor. I'm here for it. Like, I feel like we beg for personality and when we get it from him, I'm like, yes, thank you.

This is what we were missing. Because everyone gets upset when it's Leon Dreisidal saying anything because then he's just pissy. But like if Connor says it, it's a different story. So I'm here for it because if any. Anybody is going to, you know, bring the heat in a game. You know it's him. And even tonight, like the Panthers were the better team. But every time McDavid's on the ice, you're so drawn to him.

I'm going to be very interested to see because like, look at how the Panthers are trying to defend him on the penalty kill, right? Every time he enters his own, it's four on one. It's four panthers swarming to him. So maybe he's not getting the room there. But can he take over things at five on five a little bit more? I don't know if he's motivated. I personally wouldn't count him out.

Like he's the kind of player that can steal you a game. So sure. I doubt the oilers. I don't doubt McDavid. Let's finish on the Matthew Kachuk question. Hasn't been super noticeable on the score sheet, didn't have any points today. People are starting to ask the question,

I think, in some regard, like what can we expect from him in this series? Is it more than what we've gotten from so far? What is your thought on Mr. personality himself, Matthew Kachuk? I feel like everyone kind of, this entire year, has looked him in like, Oh, it's a down year because he's not scoring as many goals.

When you see like, there's reason for it, right? On the power play, he's the guy setting up Sam Reinhardt. He's been such a fantastic playmaker this year. So I expect him to just keep doing that because it's working for him. But I thought tonight, especially through two periods, he was really noticeable. And you see that line is generating it. I think he was like the Panthers were out shooting Edmonton 14 to 3 attempts at 5 on 5 through 2 periods with like 82% of the expected goals sharing his minutes. According to natural statrick, which,

to me says it's only a matter of time before he breaks through and starts popping off a little bit more. So I would be shocked if he doesn't make his mark on the series. A big part of all that five-on-five dominance we talked about it at the top of our show here is because of Matthew Kachuk, right? He's not setting up goals. His own shots aren't going in. It doesn't mean he hasn't been a major factor in a lot of different ways over these first two games. We'll see if it carries over to game three. again, that's on Thursday night.

Will we, the two of us reconvene after that one? I hope not. I hope you get to go to sleep, personally. Just kidding. Next show's on Wednesday with me and Frankie and Sean McIndoo. Enjoy it. Thank you for the time. Thank you.