The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Postgame Show: The Hockey Show Takes New York

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

The Hockey Show invades New York for Game 5 of the ECH and welcomes Jordan McPherson of The Miami Herald to discuss the Panthers taking a 3-2 lead over the New York Rangers. Plus, David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joins the duo to continue the discussion of the Eastern Conference Finals, as well as diving into the battle in the west between the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. That's the sound of unaged whiskey transforming into Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Around 1860, nearest green taught Jack Daniel how to filter whiskey through charcoal for a smoother taste, one drop at a time. This is one of many sounds in Tennessee with a story to tell. To hear them in person, plan your trip at TNVacation.com. Tennessee sounds perfect.

Hello everybody. Welcome to the hockey show. We are in New York city. We just witnessed game five of the Eastern conference final as the Florida Panthers went three to two. My name is Roy Bellamy. That's David Dworka, the hockey news. We have David Pignola of the fourth period.

He's going to come on to talk about the rest of the playoffs here. And we have Jordan McPherson from the Miami Herald. Now let's go over game five. here and we have Jordan McPherson from the Miami Herald. Now let's go over game five. Uh, it looked like at least five on five that the Florida Panthers pretty much dominated. Don't you agree with that? Yeah, I would say so.

I mean, you look at maybe the first 10 to 12 minutes of that first period, the Rangers came out hot, which was kind of expected after Florida one game four, they wanted to get back sort of similar to what happened after in game two, after the game one loss, but after that it was Really Panthers dominate which is sort of been what the series has really been Panthers have dominated shot attempts shots on goal scoring chances Basically pick your stat and the Panthers are basically dominate everything except the score sheet Everything's been one goal games outside of the 3-0 win in game one

Even that was only one nothing until the own goal with a few minutes left. So the Panthers have shown that ability to, as soon as they're able to take over a game, they just bear down. And once they find their game, they look almost unstoppable. And that's been a theme throughout the entire series to this point, and it's something that we saw again in game five Special teams last night the power play wasn't exactly the best to give up a short-handed goal Apparently kill was as usual. They did their job. What are you thinking about special teams? Yeah penalty kills been incredible I think it's 14 for 15 now in this series consider and considering the Rangers came in Yeah, and considering the Rangers came in with about 31% success rate of the

power play coming into the series, Flores penalty killer stepped up. Obviously, Kevin Stenland at Toulouse-Ryne and Sam Reinhardt, Alexander Barkhoff, the entire defense core, they've all just been lights out and they've been like that all season, all playoffs. To see that continue has been really good to see. The power play, you see it work in spurts They'll have a lot of chances and then get nothing out of it. They'll give up short-handed goals They give I think was like seven or eight in the regular season

They gave to already this series and the Rangers are opportunistic on their Pete with their PK I mean if two short-handed goals this series, I think they have five in the playoffs so far They're just they know when to attack similar to how Florida Florida is on their PK they know when when the striking know when to take their moments and Honestly, if the Panthers if their PK is fine, that's really all I'm worried about They'll get power play goals here and there they're gonna score five on five So if they can shut down the opponent's power play to me, that's priority one I think that's been Paul Maurice's message all year when it comes to special teams battle control the PK

execute on the power play when the opportunity is there and then win five on five. Now a team member of that PK has been getting a lot of attention just on the whole is Gus Forsling. We've been watching him now for the last few years. So it's no big surprise to us what he's been doing. But it's kind of funny sitting up in the press box listening, you know, you hear things here and there. Oh man, this guy's amazing. Oh, this guy's an enormous guy. Where'd he come from?

As guy, you know, we've watched him, right? Do you think that this is like Gus Forsling's coming out party? Like is it, when next season rolls around because of this exposure, is he going to be Considered in that upper echelon of the fenceman because we've seen it growing now for a while But it's almost like now on this grand stage It's like Gus for as long as like hello world. I'm awesome. Yeah, I certainly hope so

I mean we've again just again like you said the the fact we've been able to appreciate Gustav for saying not just this year But last two to three years. Yes We've been able to see him go from the guy that Bill Zito picks up on off waivers I have that 2021 season as a you know, let's see what we've got here to Almost immediately becoming a top pairing defensemen. Yeah that again nobody's been talking about because again It was either Hayes with Aaron Eklat or he's with Mackenzie Weger and now it's Holy crap. This guy really knows what he's doing again. He's he skates Well, he has the mental fortitude to know and anticipate plays

He's got strength and he's sneaky good on offense Which it's really not becoming sneaky anymore after seeing him and make three big goals already in the series four big goals We include a slap shot in the in the bossing game that put him up three two in the second period And he had the game winning goal of the series clinching goal against Boston He had the game winner a couple games ago He had or the game tying goal and he had the game tying goal last game and that backhander the tie the game that was I didn't know he had that. But again, we see what he does defensively

and as Paul Murray said post game, post game after game five, he is the best in the world at the type of hockey he plays. And I would tend to agree with that. And the Panthers are fortunate, they locked him up already. They locked him up on that eight year and we're able to get what considering his skill level and what we've been seeing What seems like a pretty team friendly deal and the fact that they've got him and that his game will

Shouldn't drop off with age with the style. He plays It just gives the Panthers so much more good fortune knowing they have a top pairing to a top pair of defensemen like who saw Forsling up there for a good bit now. Yeah locked him up for under six million a year That's pretty impressive for the Panthers one other element of just for slings I want to ask you about something you wrote about earlier this year is There's a bit of fear in the Panthers locker room I believe they do not want to bring their wives around Gus Forsling can explain Can you explain why they they want to keep their women away from Gus?

All right I'm just gonna use Aaron Echlid's words exactly as he said them because He is the one who gave that quote to me and thank you Aaron Echlid for giving me probably the quote of the year Well, I talked with Aaron Echlid about for a feature day on Gus back in February He basically said that he had all three of those qualities I mentioned before, the mental fortitude, the speed, the skill, the skating. And he goes, all three of those are important.

I also know we can truck a guy who's 250 pounds. We've seen him without a shirt off. There's a reason we keep our wives away from Gustav Forslund. Statue. Yeah, and again, he's been referred to different things. He's been referred to the Swedish Greek god. He's been referred to any different type of muscle-based

generic term that you can have. He is chiseled. He is chiseled and again, he's got quads. He's got massive quads. And again, with a guy who skates as hard as you have to there, that's not surprising. But yeah, Gus, again, his all-around game is absolutely incredible.

And it's great that people outside of The Florida Panthers market are finally getting a chance to actually See it and witness it and get a chance to appreciate it. So he does not look like an accountant No, he does not unlike Carter Verhege as one reporter Tried to say the Paul Maurice and that quote did make it around the room as Kyle Ocosso managed to Call that reporter out during their during the pregame press conference before game five. Yeah. All in good fun.

All in good fun. Anton Lendell has three goals and eight assists so far in these playoffs. He got the second goal to go ahead, go for the Panthers. Um, well the second goal of the game in game five. Why don't you talk about Anton Lendell's postseason right now? Yeah, it's been sort of like with Gustav Forsen, it's sort of been a coming out party for him. And every time he makes a big play and he's made a lot of big plays

as playoffs, I still have to remind myself, this kid's only 22 years old. He's in his third year, 22 years old, and he's already played 40, I believe it's 46 playoff games already in his career. He was in the entire playoff run last year. He's already in a second extended run and every time he records a point, it just seems like it's coming in such a valuable moment, whether it's a game-tying goal, a go-ahead goal, a game-winning goal, whether he's scoring or assisting on it, it seems like when the big moment is there, Anton Landell is somehow on the ice.

And it's been fun to watch his development, especially since coming in this year again, he was centering a third line. It was like, we were all trying to figure out, is he gonna have that opportunity to break out while he's playing a bottom six role? And he's really, every time he's out there, he's finding ways to maximize his opportunity,

even if he's not in the big roles. And in saying that, whenever the Panthers need somebody to step into a big role Whether it was Barkov missing games or Sam Bennett missing games. Yeah, Paul Marisi went. Okay, Anton. You're moving up to the top line Okay, Anton, you're moving on to the second line. Okay, Anton, you're moving on the power play one He just he's able to figure out whoever he's with whatever line mates He's with he's able to adjust his game to maximize what his winger strengths are and the fact he's that malleable the fact that he's with, he's able to adjust his game to maximize what his winger strengths are.

And the fact that he's that malleable, the fact that he's able to be that flexible with his own game, maybe even sacrificing his game to make sure his line is better as a unit. It's incredible to watch that from a guy who, again, he's only in his third year. He's 22 years old. Yeah.

The fact that he's able, he has learned that aspect of the game so quickly. That's been key to his development. It's going to be a really interesting way to see how he continues that moving forward. It's also a testament to the Panthers depth, right? Because that third line, it's not really a third line, because every single by the guy that stated on that line this year, whether it's Lundell, E2, Erod,

Teresenko, Teresenko, Rod, all these guys, they've skated on the second line, they've skated on the first line. Florida's got that versatility in their, I mean really across the lineup, but how key has that been, just the moves that Bill Zito has made, not just for Lundell's development, but just overall to keep everybody kind of lifted up

and playing with high end talent. Oh, it's huge. I mean, you look at their depth right now, they theoretically have 15 guys who could fill those 12 spots. They have six guys, well five guys, so Stenland's gonna be the fourth line center when everyone's huge. I mean, you look at their depth right now, they theoretically have 15 guys who could fill those 12 spots. Yeah. They have six guys, well, five, I said, Stanley's going to be the fourth line center when everyone's healthy.

You have five other guys competing for those two winger spots on the fourth line every given game. Last year they lost that too. They lost Matthew Kachukley. They were without, they had, uh, they had all those injuries. I mean, you remember you look back at the game five in the Stanley Cup final, they played Grigoriy Denisenko. They had to rely on, they had to dip into their black aces

to get there. If they lose a couple guys here, you have, as of right now, you have Nick Cousins and Ryan Lombard as your scratches, when both of them have had experience playing middle six roles. You have a Joe Nagadjeviewicz who if you need a guy to just start roughing things up, he can draw in. You have Kyle Ocoso, a veteran, 17 year NHL veteran

who knows how to grind through things. Yeah, he's looked great. Yeah, he's looked fantastic. You have Steven Lawrence who can be, who can play center or wing for you, can take face-offs, can be a part of a third parent for a penalty kill. Yeah. Look at all that and that's just looking at what you're looking for for your fourth line.

Then you have your top nine who all of them like you said could play first, second, third line. This depth is really incredible to see and it's just to watch what happened year over year and the beauty of having a little bit of salary cap space to be able to make these moves after being so strapped last year. It shows just how much Bill Zio is able to make with whatever he has. Sergey Vyborovsky, despite making plenty of big saves in his series and in these playoffs, hasn't really played up to his standards. Uh, but the team defense is really hidden. Doze, uh, detriments from a Bobrowski and these playoffs. And he's not really seeing that many shots.

Uh, talk about the team defense. Yeah. I mean, well, that's what the team's done all year. I mean, they were, I think they gave up, I think you were the second or third fewest shots on goal per game. Just because of how great that defense is. And they work as a five man union. It's not just the two defensemen are doing stuff

and then the forwards are waiting for a breakout. Everybody collectively is working to get sticks on pucks, battle in the corners, do whatever they can to make sure that everything in front of Bob is as clean as possible. I mean, there are any mishaps. We saw a few of those throughout the series already, but the Panthers are giving up barely 20 to 25 shots a game.

And that's a testament to what this defense is doing. And the fact that it's continuing in the playoffs is just as remarkable. You mean you watch how locked down they are being. Gustav Forsling, Aaron Akvai, Perry has been great for most of the series. They have a couple of the series. They have a couple of bad games.

That game one against Boston was one, they definitely just wanna burn that tape as quickly as possible. But other than that, I mean, look at what they've done in the Rangers so far. Their top line, Crier has one goal. They're ghosting us. That's it.

And again, before that short-handed goal, Crier's best play was, as Matthew Kachuck said, was taking Kachuck's mouth guard and trying to throw into the stands. So, I mean, it's not like they're planning for, to say, okay, we need to neutralize this guy, we need to neutralize this guy. Their plan is just, don't let anything get on that,

regardless of who it is. They're going with basically a no-face look at the opposition. Just throw our best guys against their best guys. We have confidence that our guys are going to lock them down and the most part they've done it. Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. Thank you for coming in.

Thank you guys. Thanks, buddy. David Pena is coming up next. Continuing on from New York, we have David Pena of the fourth period. We also have the Western conference final. We need to actually talk about that one. There are other teams. Yeah. Yeah. There are the teams in the national hockey league this far into the playoffs. It's the Edmonton Oilers and the Dallas stars. I was going to say on the show that if I was an oldest fan, I would be a lot more nervous

than I would be as a Panthers fan because that has been a tight series. It's probably gonna go seven. What do you think, David? Yeah. I give the Oilers credit. I thought it was gonna be a short series. I thought it was gonna be. No Mike Smith this time.

No, no, a little different. But, look, I think, first of all, I think Dallas is pretty banged up. I think especially on the back end, it looks like they're pretty banged up. We know Tana got hurt. So, and he was wearing a boot yesterday. He's probably gonna play, but still,

you're not gonna be 100%. And Edmonton just, you know, they talk about no quit in New York. Well, Edmonton's playing with no quit. They're pushing, Adam Henry got back in the lineup. It's not exclusively Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl that are running the ship. You got other teams. Not at all actually, right?

Yeah, I mean there's some instances where, especially last round, I didn't see Connor for like three of those games against Vancouver. But you got two teams that are a little bit banged up, I think more so a little bit on Dallas' side, which has allowed Edmonton to kind of come back in this one and at least keep things tied for the time being. But I still think Dallas overall is gonna be able

to kind of push through in this one, especially if Jay Gottinger kind of gets back. He's been a little funky this round. If he kind of gets back to his topper echelon type of play, I think they're gonna roll through. Now Dallas, similarly to the Panthers, best two NHL teams on the road this year. It's continued for both of them during the playoffs.

What do you think on the Dallas side? Obviously with Pete DeBoer, they're very well coached. What do you think makes them such a formidable opponent when it comes to playing in other teams' barns? Well, I think the depth plus the fact that they just wanna shut everybody up in other cities. They like to do that, they like to quiet the crowd. And just again, going to that depth that they've got.

Top to bottom, one through four up front. Decor has been solid. Again, banged up now, but overall solid. I mean, they just find a way to kind of take advantage of some miscues, and then they kind of are just relentless in terms of their attack, similar to the Panthers. Florida's got a lot more physicality that they bring on a consistent basis, but I think Dallas' depth kind of smothers the opposition in that sense,

whereas Florida just utilizes their physical prowess to kind of contain and shock and awe the other teams. Now, switching over to the Oilers, you mentioned that they've been getting a lot of secondary, not only say secondary, because when it's not Tricidal and McDavid, they still got Zach Hyman. Yeah. They're not a bad team.

Nugent Hopkins has been pretty good during the playoffs as well. Vander Kane in spurts Yeah, yeah But then there's also the defense with like Bouchard and and Matias at home has been spectacular for the Oilers and that was something That we've talked for a while now that this team needed to improve was the back end, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah the back end and and quality depth in their bottom six and they address that Bringing in Henry bringing in Henrik, bringing in Kerrick, signing Corey Perry mid-season. But they didn't address the blue line,

which I thought was gonna be a bit of an issue for them going in to the playoffs. They tried, right? They tried. They came close in a couple instances. But, you know, I mean, from a physical perspective, they brought in Troy Stetcher, but they needed somebody at home-esque

to also bring in there. And now everybody just poops all over guys, like Nurse and Cece and Kulak and whatnot. Some of it's just, a lot of it isn't. Yeah, it's kind of low hanging fruit, right? Everybody loves a whipping boy. Yeah. You know, so especially in Canadian markets, we're nuts.

Yeah. So, you know, so especially in Canadian markets. We're nuts. Yeah so I like I Like again, I like the makeup of this team But I thought they needed to add a little bit more physicality on that on that blue line Especially with all the question marks you have in that Jake on a gin Obviously you got the stars their goaltender situation But what about Stuart Skinner over in Edmonton because he had they had questions in goaltending. Yeah coming into the series Yeah, they they'll have questions in goaltending going into the summer

Another error I thought I that's why I thought they were gonna address the decor a little bit more to help Offset the fact that you've got that insecure net He's been good when he's needed to be and he's been bad when he's not needed to be, if that makes, he's had some opportunities where he's stepped up, but he's also had some opportunities where he needed to step up and he just wasn't able to do it.

Now I think it's also circumstantial and it's not exclusive to him, but that's an area they're going to have to address in this. I mean, even if they win the Stanley Cup somehow, which I don't think they will. I think I think that and the blue line will be something that they're going to have to figure out whoever is leading the ship, because as I reported this week, I think this is Kenny Hollins last last run as GM of the Edmonton Oilers. Wow.

Yeah, not terribly surprising that he's running out of runway. Yeah. Yeah, and I thought, again, I thought he was going to be able to make those types of additions and adjustments, and it just, it didn't happen. So... It's not like he's making wrong moves. No, just hasn't done enough. Yeah.

You know, and look, Hall of Famer, all of that stuff, get it, No, just hasn't done enough. Yeah you know and Look Hall of Famer all of that stuff get it but new regime with Jeff Jackson taking over his president in in Edmonton I think he'll bring on his new guy, but Don't worry about that and yell at me later after yeah after they get assumingly, you know, their season ends Okay, let's say they don't get past the Western Conference final. Is this a blow it up situation? No um I think if if

What i'm told is correct and Kenny Holland is moving on. Um, whoever the new guy is Priority number one to sit down with 29 to figure out what leon drysidl wants to do And then go from there. He's got one more year on his contract There's a lot of speculation that he will eventually leave I've been told this as well that there's some belief that he would prefer to Take his long-term play elsewhere But

He hasn't told me that So, you know, he could be just and he's kept quiet on it I mean the priority number one is find out what you do with Leon. Connor's got two more years, worry about that later. Find out what you wanna do with Leon Dreisel, and then you decide what you wanna go from there. I mean, look, even if he says no,

I'm not gonna sign an extension, I don't think, you can't blow it up with Connor. No, you could build around him still. Yeah, he's okay. He's okay, he's okay. He's okay. So I think it's just a matter of determining what you do with Leon at that point, and then that'll dictate the type of moves

you need to make kind of moving forward. But I think we're ahead of ourselves on that. But again, if I'm coming in, I wanna know what's going on with 29, and then it'll help dictate what I'm gonna do moving forward. Yeah, what's really struck me about him this postseason is just how he's emphasized his defensive play.

Because we know he's been this amazing goal scorer, but when he steps it up defensively, he's almost like a little Barkov out there when he wants to be. When he wants to be, yeah. And you know what, honestly, Connor McDavid's upped his defensive game too. He's blocking shots out there.

You're looking on the bench, you're going, nope, don't do that. It's the conference final. I know, everything, you shots out there. You're looking on the bench, you're going, nope, don't do that. It's the conference final. I know, everything, you go out there, yeah, you put it all on the line, absolutely. But the coach has gotta be a little bit worried. Like if this guy breaks something or the puck hits him in the wrong place,

that's not gonna be great. Again, playoff hockey, so you're gonna do it. But both of these guys, and you know what, and I think both of these guys are frustrated too. Like they should be, they feel, they should be in a final by now. They should be able to compete for a Stanley Cup, and they're not there yet,

and I think that's part of the reason why these guys are like, you know what, we have to go all out in this one, or, you know, what's the point? Well, speaking of frustration, I did wanna ask you a question about the Rangers before we wrap things up. There's a lot of that. Well, that's the point? Well speaking of frustration, I did want to ask you a question about the Rangers before we wrap things up. There's a lot of that. Well that's the thing, right?

Talk about Zavana Jaddy, talk about Criator, you talk about their top guys and they're not really stepping up. And God love Vincent Trotschek, we have a lot of love for him, but he can't carry that team right now. And I don't know if it's a testament to how well the Panthers are playing,

because Paul Maurice and his guys have maintained we're not focusing on anybody anybody we pay attention to the fourth line in the first line the same. Mm-hmm So why are their stars not shining? They're they're being contained and if we if we now I was wondering what Paul Maurice meant by That statement putting his best against their best. Was it a bit of a our best guys are better than your best guys That's kind of where he took it. He's like, when our elite guys are against your elite guys. I was wondering if that was a sneaky little jab at the Rangers guys a little bit.

Very cryptic, this guy. He's a smart guy, that Paul Maurice. Yes, there's always a method to his madness. Look, I just think, look, I wonder, first of all, I wonder if Artemi Panarin's fully healthy. Yeah, he does not look like himself.

He doesn't look like himself. The speed is not there. No. And he was almost non-existent last night. So I think it's a combination of guys probably battling things, but also just you're playing with frustration now because of how well Florida contains you. It's like, you're just hoping to be on the power play, hoping to find some type of advantage and then you can't execute on it anyway.

Yeah. I think there's a lot of frustration that's starting to really come through and shine a little bit too brightly for the New York Rangers and their top guys. You look at the Panthers defensive unit, they are so aggressive offensively, they pinch in so much that they're actually playing into the Rangers' strengths for the transitional offense. That doesn't seem to matter, right? No, clearly.

Not yet. It hasn't, right? And yeah, it's a good point. I mean, it's almost like you're giving the Rangers a little bit of false hope when you're doing that because you know you can shut it down when you need to anyway. And like some of these guys,

you guys were talking about Gustav Forsling earlier. I mean, the appreciation now that I think a lot of people have for his play defensively is just, and he's good. Just wait until he gets power play time, then everybody's in a game. Yeah, like he hasn't been able to exploit that part of his game just yet, but man, like who cares?

Like he is ridiculous. Kudos to Bill Zito on that contract. Yeah, I mean, he's definitely gonna win a Jim Gregory Award this year. You would think. You would think. David Pinato, the fourth period, thank you for coming in.

Thanks for having me, boys.