The Hockey PDOcast - Florida’s Statement Win, and How the Hurricanes and Leafs Went Up 2–0 in Their Series

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Harman Dayal to talk about Florida's statement win over the Lightning in Game 1, how the Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead over an undermanned Devils squad, and the way these first two games between the Leafs and Senators have been played. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

since 2015. It's the Hockey P.D.O.cast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. Welcome to the Hockey P.D.O.cast. My name is Dimitra Filipovich. And joining me is my good buddy Harmon Dile. Harmon, what's going on, man? Doing well. I'm buzzing from all the awesome playoff hockey last night. It was a fun Tuesday night. Not quite as as chaotic and dramatic as Monday night's games, certainly were, especially down the stretch. But we've got some fun stuff to get into. And I think most importantly, I want to start off with this and we're going to spend as much time as we can on it. We finally got the Battle of Florida, Panthers Lightning,

underway on Tuesday after this extended break and highly anticipated weight for us. And I'm curious for your take on this because you and I haven't necessarily had a change to speak since these matchups got set and since all the playoff previews happened and everything. But from my perspective heading into the series, I noticed that Tampa Bay had certainly emerged

as a very trendy pick to come out of the east and dethrone the Panthers. I certainly saw the logic. We presented it in our series preview that we did last week where there's any number of dominant regular season metrics you want to look at either offensively or defensively that you can pick through and construct a very compelling case for why the Lightning are a very, very good team this season.

And yet still, while talking my way through it, I still had my reservations in terms of making that pick and I ultimately did pick the Panthers to win a long series just because I believe that there's an absolute Titan kind of laying in the weeds here in Florida. And the only question for me was whether we'd actually get to see it fully realized with everyone healthy and available. Obviously, Eckblad won't be available until game three of this series,

but we did see Matthew could chuck back. The forward group for the Panthers is fully intact. And it's a team that clearly prioritized the long game down the stretch as well, right? They were arresting guys. It was clear they weren't really trying their full capabilities. and that's such a hallmark for this Panthers team in particular over the course of this two plus year run for them

in terms of just going full blast and overwhelming teams doing so and so as soon as they take their foot off the gas a little bit it looks wildly different. That obviously wasn't going to be the case in the postseason, especially in such a heated matchup like this and we kind of got a taste of it in game one. Absolutely. And this was for me as somebody who picked a lightning to win the series in seven,

I underestimated their ability to flip that. switch and immediately turn it on. And this was a really interesting matchup to discuss with people around the league as well, because CJ and I did a piece leading up to the playoffs where we got exact to anonymously rate every playoff team. And I think the consensus was Panthers and Lightning are the two best teams at the East. But when it came to the Panthers specifically, there was some split opinion on the whole fatigue

factor on health where. Some argued that, especially with the uncertainty around Kachuk, having not played since four nations, and even just the overall fatigue factor of they made two deep runs to the Stanley Cup final in the two previous seasons, they wondered about whether Florida would be able to turn that switch, whether they'd be able to continually continue playing that pummeling physical style and instead of success with it. Whereas, you know, there's a GM that I talked to that actually argued the injuries, could ironically work in their favor because it means a lot of their top guys didn't have to play a full 82 games. And even on the broadcast in reference to Ekblad suspension, I think they mentioned that he feels as fresh and as rested as he's ever been. So even on that front, they'll get a bit of a boost once he returns in game three.

And you certainly saw it. I mean, Tampa's blue line looked vulnerable against the heavy forechecking pressure that the Panthers brought to the table. The Schmidt 3-1 goal stands out especially. It was a nightmare sequence for that Tampa third pair to try and break the puck out. And obviously when you coupled it with the questionable decision to challenge for goalie interference, which of course backfired and led to Kachach's 4-1 goal, it just sort of iced the game right there after what actually started as a pretty solid

first period for the lightning where I think the Panthers was the first. few minutes really came out strong, really came out hungry, but then for the balance of the opening 20 minutes, at least until Reinhardt scored that late tip goal, it felt like the lightning were starting to get to their game and we're spending a lot of time in the offense zone. Yeah, I thought the lightning from the fifth minute on until that goal you mentioned played really well and gave an awesome pushback. And I was like, okay, let's strap it. And this is going to be a classic. And then obviously the Panthers want to pulling away in the second. But right from the jump, I thought that the specific problems that this Panthers team poses were immediately evident.

And they just came out and emphatically laid the wood in this one. It's clear the most important battleground for this series is how the lightning, their defensemen, but even their forwards, when they get the puck along the wall, we know Kucharov is obviously brilliant at transitioning the puck out of his zone once he kind of gets it high near the blue line. But the other guys would feel a lot of pressure. And especially for the defensemen, with their relative. to lack of foot speed, how they'd be able to acquit themselves against Florida's

tenacious forecheck and that pressuring of the puck all the way up the ice. And in this game was pretty clear. They looked discombobulated. It created all sorts of dysfunction and breakdowns and turnovers throughout. We had a cool tidbit to kind of illustrate this point in terms of the early returns from one of our listeners, Max, in the PEOCest Discord, who did the groundwork of tracking this game, I think, twice to make sure you got the numbers right. and he had it at Tampa Bay in the first two periods

and the game was up in the air relatively and competitive. They attempted 20 rim-out attempts from their own zone, and they succeeded only five times in terms of getting it out with possession and actually being able to move up the ice. And so that's clearly not going to get it done. It's going to be imperative for them to find a solution to work through it easier said than done certainly. But you could see sprinkled throughout those first two periods,

what Florida does to you, and then especially for a lightning team that when they're at their best and firing on all cylinders are so smooth moving up the ice with the top two lines and create all sorts of headaches for you downhill, those opportunities weren't really there. Braden Point got loose a couple times, but for the most part, the Panthers did a really good job of essentially keeping everything in front of them

and pressuring and then kind of flipping the script on them and moving back in the other direction. Absolutely. Kutrov was really quiet, didn't seem to have much open ice to make plays. It felt like anything that Tampa generated had to be off the forecheck through winning battles. And that's why the Hegel line was by far their best. And I'm sure we'll talk about Sorrelli's injury and what that means later on.

But the other, like two other points. First, I thought the Chernack McDonough pair had kind of an uncharacteristically off night. Even on the opening goal, McDonough, who's been such an ace for them defensively this year, to see him step up on Sam Bennett to pinch and try to negate Florida's transition attempt there and get caught up the ice, it initially put Chernak in a bit of a pickle. And then Chernak, instead of holding the middle, he gambled, sprayed out along the wall to try and win that loose pocket race against Samaskavich. And as soon as he made that read and decision, I sort of Winston went, ooh, if you're making that read, you better kill that play right then and there. because you're going to get burned if Sam Miskavich is able to come away from this and able to make a play.

And that just sort of burn them right there. And then secondly, what also stood out, I think, throughout the game and especially through the first few minutes was as much as the Panthers had success, you know, playing that heavy, wear you down, physical dump and chase style. They also looked fast and dangerous in transition. They look quick advancing the puck themselves. Their blue line, which isn't the sexiest on paper, especially with that flat out, was still able. Yeah, sure, there were some phases that were Tampa's four check, was able to create some offensive zone time. But generally speaking, there were spurts of the game where I went, okay, this, this Panthers team actually looks quicker advancing the puck than I would have anticipated. I thought Mackie Samaskiewicz, no surprise here, looked awesome in this game.

good on a puck knower, Paul Maurice, for sticking with his guns and keeping him high in a high leverage scoring role, even after everyone came back and was available up front, right? He stuck him with Chuck and Bennett on essentially their second line and on the first power play, just as importantly. And you could see how, what a difference making weapon, his playmaking chops are in this one, right? You kind of describe the first one. Obviously, it was a beautiful finish in tight with soft hands on that kind of Crosby-esque against the great. bat in that San Bennett executes. But even before that,

Samiskevich wins that battle to the puck and extends the play against Chernak and then is able to kind of float it across to him on both the power play goals. I don't think he even factored in on the scoring play in terms of getting assists, but he was kind of instrumental in setting them up because on both instances,

he gets the puck high in the zone near the blue line and he essentially baits Ryan McDunna. You mentioned kind of how much he struggled in this game to try and get him up near the blue line. And all of a sudden, that stretches out their entire PK structure. He works it down low. They have a numerical advantage to cook with. And it's set up both.

I think on the second Kachuk goal, it was kind of this mad scramble and he winds up shooting it. When Vasilowski isn't prepared or doesn't know where the puck is. But the reason that kind of happens is because McDana be backtrack was so high in the zone and then made this mad scramble to get back. And essentially they just lost control and ran into Vasilevsky and caused that chaos to begin with leading to that goal. I thought that line was awesome. saw, as I mentioned, Canadian hero and Thomas Duran's favorite, Sam Bennett, with the sweet touch on that. There was also a play seven minutes into the second period upon my rewatch that I

noticed was exactly that play I was describing earlier on where the lightning actually do get it out of their zone, but it's just kind of a neutral ice right up, right atop the blue line. And Brayton Point, who's generally sure-handed, is looking to make a breakout towards the middle of the ice to get them moving downhill. And Sam Bennett just bowls him over, forces the turnover and it leads to a quick rush opportunity for Sam Miskevich and that was kind of a lot of what was fueling Florida here. So I thought they were phenomenal. It was interesting, you and I were texting throughout this game in my initial preliminary notes. I was like, should Matthew Kuchuk be playing? Because especially in the first period at 515, he was just

standing around and he's never going to be a burner or a guy who's necessarily a, you know, conventional high motor, constantly moving guy. He does a lot of his stuff through stationary actions. but he seemed especially so in this one where I was wondering how healthy he really is or whether it was a rust or what was going on. He just wasn't moving at all. And then he essentially sat back up, Undertaker style.

As soon as they got in the power play, scored two goals, was very involved, as you'd expect from Kachuk, right? He takes that kind of needless penalty early on that winds up biting them with the power play goal for the lightning where he just hits Kuturov without the puck. After the, I think the Ryanhardt tip, you and I were talking about how the ESPN cameras just caught him.

He's like sitting. on the top of the boards of Etchkin style and does not stop talking. He was just involved in every single thing. And so what he does for them on the ice is obviously incredibly important for that line. But you can feel his impact in so many ways in very classic Matthew Kachuk style. And you can bet that after the roughing penalty he took on Kucharov, Tampa scoring on that. That turned the momentum of that game in Tampa's favor momentarily in the first period. So right then and there, I was thinking Kuchuk probably feels some level of burden that

He cost him a goal there. And for him on the power play to convert twice. I mean, the second goal obviously was more of a heads-up play where mad scramble, Vasilevsky momentarily stands up. But the first one, I mean, the hands in tight showing absolutely no rust there. And again, sort of fortunate where the Panthers power play was able to spread McDonough and Chernak out. Another instance where that deep air combo sort of struggled. But then in all alone against Vasilevsky, who's been red hot down the stretch to open him up with the back and forth.

Deeks was absolutely brilliant. And I can only imagine all the chirps throughout the rest of the game. Because when Tampa initially scored, I think it was Gensel who was barking at Kachuk early. And I'm sure Kachuk was sure to return the favor. It's really funny because obviously when you have Kachuk and Bennett involved, and especially they were going quite a bit head-to-head against Hegel and Sorelli before he left the game. There's a lot of shenanigans when they're getting back to their benches and a lot of skirmishes. And I assume we'll see that continue into the later stages of the series.

But it's really funny because you've also got Mackie Samiskevich on that line. And he's like almost just involved as a as a bystander kind of like falling in with a bad group. And he's like getting peer pressured into getting into all these scrums. It's kind of hilarious to see just him involved in the periphery. He's kind of trying to pull guys apart as those. two chaos agents are actually causing havoc on the lightning. My one final note on the Panthers, I thought once again,

that line of Marshand with the two fins, Lusterina and Lundell, was quite effective. You look at, for whatever you want to make of the 515 metrics, they were once again dominant and they did their job. In this, his legs were clearly working.

I think, you know, we got the treat of having Ray Ferraro on the call here on the ESPN broadcast and he kind of made the note that he was moving very well. He was very involved, kind of the opposite of Kachuk, but for whatever reason, his hands were kind of failing him in this

one. They had a one play where it was an unforce mistake, but Nick Paul gets along the wall in his zone, just kind of carelessly sends it into the middle of the ice. Marcian's right there, and he's not able to do anything with it. He had a few others where he kind of fumbled a potential scoring chance. We'll see if that kind of comes around, but that line is certainly going to get their opportunities with how well Lundell and Lusterinen create them. Let's get into kind of what went wrong here for the lightning a little bit. We obviously don't want to make too much of one game. This team is so good that I'd expect them to mount, especially probably early in game to some sort of a pushback throw haymakers of their own.

We're going to see, as you mentioned, Kuturov much more involved than he was in this one. I'm curious to see what happens with Sirelli status. He only played 621 in this game, and especially without Burek's Randall, we made a lot of Tampa's reinvigorated depth and how many more options they had and how unlike last year, it wasn't just a one-line team with Kutraub in point. And this presents a pretty big challenge or blow to them if Sirelli is either unavailable or hampered. It's kind of tough to tell because this game was already sort of out of hand and he didn't come back after the second period. But we'll see because we know that him and Hegel, especially on

the PK, have just been so dominant this season. And so I think that's going to be a big crossroads moment here. Absolutely. I didn't feel like once Paul, once Paul got bumped up, sure, their metrics were still decent, but it was a huge difference night and day to me as far as how dangerous they actually looked offensively. Where for the first half of the game, up until Sorrelli's injury, I would argue that was maybe the best line on either team. And then you could just see the difference where Paul just wasn't quite the same fit. And especially in a world where Florida's third line is such an X factor

and they have that luxury where they've cut three lines that can all hum, that can all create, that can all cause problems and create havoc. If you're without Sorrelli, it just creates a really sizable, difference in the quality of each team's forward ford, forward depth, especially because as you alluded to,

Bjork Strand is, is out as well. That would be massive on the P.K. As well, right, Tampa's PK got torch for, for three goals there and I expect them to obviously be better, but we know how important,

he and, he and Hagle together have been those two short-handed. I mean, it was, it's been unreal at times watching how, not just well they defend, but how, Lethally sort of are on the counterattack in terms of some of their against-the-grained chances.

And I mean, John Cooper uses Sorrelli in every role, defensive matchups. It would be, I don't know if they can recover from that one, if Sorrelli is going to miss games in this series. Yeah. Unfortunately, we were kind of deprived of that back and forth that we saw in the first period over the course this game and that we were craving so much in anticipating anything to the series just because, I mean, it was kind of headed in that direction already,

but Cooper has that challenge that you noted at 3-1, and I get that, you know, these goal interference calls on like the off-side ones, the challenges are much more 50-50 and up for interpretation, but that one felt like it was pretty deeply misguided when you see the replay and how it was just kind of like a natural hockey play, and then it immediately becomes 4-1,

and then you get this awkward coach's interview after with John Cooper kind of trying to explain his rationale, and the game really got away from them there, I think the goalie matchup here is interesting, right? Because as you said, Vasseliski had been playing so well and everyone had identified him as a potential difference maker in this matchup when he's at this level, kind of at his peak. He gave up six in this one, of course, on just 16 shots.

I'd expect him to be better, certainly. I was thinking that this is probably one of the more difficult matchups for him with how Florida typically generates their offense, right? And you saw it in this one. There's not much you can do about that could chuck in alone with his hands and kind of opening him up that you described, but a couple of the other goals, whether it's just the traffic,

the screens, the tips with guys like Reinhardt and what they're trying to execute there, those are things that certainly pose problems for not only for any goalie, really, but I think it'd be like especially one of Fasilewski's potential weaknesses or places you can get him. And on the other side,

Bobrovsky wasn't really tested that much, but one area, and I've been critical of him in the past, certainly, and I think he's been overrated during this Panthers run because of just how well they played defensively in front of them. But when there is a breakdown, and Tampa, especially in the power play,

is going to create those opportunities. The one area he excels and he really lives for as a goalie is just staring down those one-on-one matchups in tight on the high-danger looks. And he made a couple of those. He made the one on the power play against Hegel. Then Hegel, a 5-on-5 set one up from behind the net. I forget who took it.

But he stared that one down as well. And so Tampa's going to get those looks. He's really, really good at stopping those, especially a higher percentage of them than most goalies. So I feel like the kind of relative strengths versus weaknesses of the two individual goalies and how these teams operate offensively is going to be a fascinating storyline to track as this series progresses. Definitely. And I don't know if I've ever walked away from a game where a goaltender got lit up for six goals and 16 shots

and been less critical of their actual performance. For the reasons you mentioned, just the combination of tips, redirections, traffic in front, the chock play in all alone. There wasn't a lot that, many goals really that I blamed Vasilevsky Vasilevsky squarely for. Now, obviously part of your task as a goaltender is you've got to

stop the difficult ones. And I think maybe the second Schmidt one was one where I would have liked to see him do a better job of fighting through that screen and tracking that park from distance since that one didn't have a tipper redirection, it just sort of went straight in. but overall Tampa needs to clean up that defensive environment and I think what we saw throughout that game is the lightning

despite the scoreline it wasn't the sort of game where they got dominated territorially and it's like oh can this team even hang the lightning had stretches throughout this contest where they they were connecting plays they were spending lots of time in the attacking end it's not like they were relentlessly hemmed in their own zone the issue is just they had too many uncharacteristic egregious lapses and breakdowns that we don't normally see from them, they've got to clean, clean those up.

And that was evident in 5 and 5. That was evident on the PK. If they can clean those things up, they should be more competitive in this series. Now, I still worry about the Sorelli factor and they're going to need the McDonough-Chernack pair to bounce back in a huge way. but there were parts of Tampa's game despite the lopsided score at even strength where there were positives.

Certainly. I do think that is encouraging for them moving forward. I did want to note here as we close up the conversation on this one and maybe we'll go to break and then cover the rest of Tuesday's games on the back end. But it applies to other series as well, but it felt like this one particularly because as I mentioned, Florida finished up with just 16 shots. They only generated three in the third period.

And I do think that, you know, we got to be careful with putting too much stock. And this maybe applies to the Ottawa-Torano series as well into like single game shot metrics in the NHL post season. You know, we obviously care about them in the regular season because it's generally such a process-oriented task for us by nature and for teams as well, right? Like this larger sample accumulates overrated two games. you're more worried about maintaining long-term habits, and they're very reflective of kind of where your team stands and stuff bleeds into, you know, you have back-to-backs, you have three games and five days or whatever,

like you have all these three games or four days. You have all these trends. In the playoffs, though, it feels like every game is so isolated as a one-off. Like, I know, you can put some stock into a series momentum and things changing and all of a sudden it bleeding into the next games, but we see all these kind of swings and, adjustments certainly over the course of a series, each game has so much more added importance. The motivation and incentive for teams shifts so much towards just like pushing the result

across the finish line on every night. And so ultimately all that matters is being the first team to do it four times before your opponent does. And so sometimes you get into these games, especially where a team is up, where at the end you look at the shock hawk and it's like, wow, you know, that was much more, much more even or balanced or even in favor of the losing team. and that's not really reflective or representative of how the context of the game or what the team was trying to do. And so, you know, just the nature of the marathon versus sprint comparing the regular season to the postseason, I think is an important thing to note and keep in mind as

this postseason progresses. Absolutely. And I think the Sends Leaf Series has been the best example of that at times where even in the first period of game one, the SENS had huge edge on the shot clock, but you looked at the quality of the shots and they were all from long distance. And when it came down to how many looks are you actually generating from the inside, it was, okay, the leaves are getting outshot by a lot, but they have a decisive edge in terms of just watching the play and how many quality looks they're getting from the inside and then even score effects, right? That's been pretty notable in that series as well, where the Sends have spent such a large chunk of both games trailing and working from behind. and so naturally the Leafs who are are have evolved into more of a low event team under Craig Baroube

where they don't necessarily feel the need to push the pace offensively yeah they've they've spent large chunks of the game where they've been defending in their own end but a lot of the play has just been to the outside they've maintained their defensive structure and uh you're you're bang on you have to be careful looking at um the pure shot totals uh in in these series yeah obviously it can it can cut both ways right it could be a bit of a slippery slope especially if you do it too early in a game, as we saw in game one of Kings Oilers, where the Kings are up for nothing,

and then all of a sudden, the Oilers start pushing. They're just having their best guys out there, every other shift, and it can snowball a little bit and get away from you, and the team can come back into it. But I think that sort of context

is very important here. All right, Haram, let's take our break here, and then we come back, we'll jump back into it. We'll cover the other games we saw on Tuesday night. You're listening to the HockeyPediocast streaming

on the Sportsnet Radio Network. All right, we're back to the HockeyPediocast, with Harmon Dyle today talking about our main takeaways from Tuesday night's playoff games. Let's get into Devil's Cains here real quick. I feel like, you know, this could be one of the shorter series, certainly, with the Cains up to nothing and the devil's looking overmatched. And so I don't know how much more time we're going to get to spend on these games. I did like to see New Jersey's effort compared to game one, right?

I thought it was leaps and bounds, more competitive where game one right from Pucktrop, they just got completely overwhelmed by a classic hurricane performance, yet still, even though the score line was close, it was a one goal game. The Devils were generating more than they did in game one. I thought Freddie Anderson was exceptional. There were a bunch of at both ends, really,

but even in front of the hurricanes and whatnot, wild scrambles and, you know, desperation saves, and I thought he was phenomenal. It felt a little inevitable throughout, right? Like you were waiting for this hurricane's push in the second. It happened. They scored the shorthanded goal. And I think, you know, the Hurricanes are certainly a very good team and they're very well positioned to take advantage of a team the way the devils are constructed, especially with all their injuries.

But this devil's team, you look at it and they're just, there's not enough talent right now. And obviously Dylan and Luke Hughes being out for this game certainly hurts to go along with Sieganthaler already. The Jack Hughes loss is absolutely crushing for them. But especially in the forward group, there's so many passengers, so many guys where they're the classic, like, what do you, what exactly do you do here, guys, especially in the bottom six. And so there's just so little 5-1-5 juice. And the devils were really good on the power play down the stretch. They bumped into the best penalty kill in the league.

The hurricanes got the only goal on special teams here. And that was the difference. And so I'm a bit at a loss in terms of, I was going to ask you, what do the devils do as they head back home? They're going to have control of matchups. They're going to have the whole atmosphere. how do you manufacture enough offense here against the hurricanes? They got some opportunities in this one,

but they're going to need to do more. We saw Sheldon Keefe, as we pleaded even before the series, but especially after game one, he splits up just for Brad and Eco Hissier and that Brat line with Mercer and Holla creates the loan goal for the devils. But beyond that, I'm not sure what the resources or avenues are here for them to create more and score more than the one goal they have in each game. Yeah, I don't really have any faith that they're going to meaning,

created even strength. So it comes down to crossing your fingers and praying that they can regain some of their momentum on the power play, which of course is going to be difficult against this vaunted Keyk. I think game two really exposed just how much deeper their hurricanes are. I mean, it's understandably difficult because the devils are without Hughes, without essentially half their blue line between Siegenthall or Luke Hughes and Brendan Dillon. But look at the guys that sort of took control of the game for the Hurricanes. It wasn't necessarily a vintage performance from the likes of Aho and Svetnikov. Shane Gossesbarre, even outside of the goal that he scored off that sort of broken play

that also led to a beautiful give and go. Gossesbear was so elusive in that game. He looked dangerous at many times throughout. It felt like whenever he was on the ice, the Keynes were attacking in the offensive zone. And the devils just don't have that type of creator on the back end right now. It sort of feels like you're always going to be in trouble if you're leaning on Brian Dumlin to play nearly 24 minutes. And it was especially shocking to see him nearly play 10 minutes of that first period, which just underscores how banged up that blue line is.

And also, he mentioned the devil's creating a lot more chances and the effort in compete being there. And Freddie Anderson was certainly excellent. But you look at outside of Tima Myers chances, which players had the puck on their stick for a lot of these quality looks from the inner slot. I counted a couple for Justin Dowling in the second period. I'm not exactly counting on him to convert those types of chances. And then the one that really stood out to me was the third period where Nemich, who otherwise had a rough outing, he made this unbelievable lateral pass in the third period. Freddie was sort of slow to read the play and react. It went to Bastion in the slot.

He shone it back into Anderson's direction on the near side when he had half the net to shoot on. So you look at that and go, amazing save by Freddie and sure it was a nice recovery, but the main issue is a player that doesn't have a lot of shooting talent, just shooting it back in the same direction that the goaltender originally was. Whereas if you have more skill in that sort of spot, that's probably a play that you convert on and are able to tie things. You're right. I think it has underscored a lot of the roster building issues, obviously injuries aside,

that plague this devil's team even throughout this regular season when they were healthy and they were still so reliant on Hughes and Brat to create everything for them offensively. And maybe this is a conversation for another day. I know you and I have already spoken about this in the past, but there's a bunch of teams on the hot seat and GMs that are poised. for a very active off-season and massive shake-ups and what they're trying to do. I wouldn't expect anything that foundational from the Devils because they kind of already have their core here in place and they're probably going to be banking on just better health

moving forward heading into next season. But I think it's going to be imperative for Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils here to really reassess what they did last off-season in terms of kind of the player types they prioritized and how they filled out the lineup and just provide more legitimate offensive weapons and options and secondary playmakers so that they're not so top heavy and reliant because, especially in a series against the hurricanes and you're on the road

and you're going to get a ton of Jordan Stahl and Jacob Slavin out against your top guys. You just need other avenues to create offense and they're clearly starved with that right now. You mentioned the blue line injuries for the devils. I thought Pesci delivered one of the best goalie performances I've seen of the postseason so far. He, you know, quite literally took two off the goal line,

blocked a couple others. It probably would have either been. and really dangerous scoring chances or goals themselves. You mentioned Nemet's there. I think this is such a conundrum for me because you and I were so high on him last year, like just seeing a teenage defenseman come in on the right side and play as well as he did last year

in terms of the volume of minutes he was eating up with the injuries they had and how he looked in those minutes and how much he was creating and how high level and detailed his game already was. And then he has that preseason injury they make a bunch of changes in the blue line. They bring in a new coach, and he clearly has fallen out of favor with Sheldon Keefe,

and he's been pretty critical of him publicly in the media. And then you watch this game, and he gets thrown into this moment, and you're right, he had some nice plays with the puck. I think even in the first period, he had to play in the neutral zone. They kind of demonstrates what he's capable of theoretically,

where he gets it. He, like, drags two hurricanes with him, spins around, threads of past, I think Stefan Nason at the time, and then they're moving downhill and getting an opportunity. It's like, all right, a guy that can do this is obviously not a lost cause. And I'm very tempted to just throw out everything I've seen this season and give him a fresh start next year.

But for whatever reason, he's kind of been just playing catch-up mode from behind the entire time, right? And you can see it in this game in the first period. There's this play where the puck gets kind of banked off the wall. And he just very casually acts like he's going to get there first. And then Eric Robinson just goes around him, beats him out wide, and gets a breakaway opportunity. There was the play where he's coming off the bench and scrambling, and they wind up taking Jackson Blake down and giving the hurricanes a power play opportunity. And for whatever reason, like his spatial awareness or like understanding and recognition of where the puck is in relation to him and the opponent has just not been good enough right now.

And so clearly got to go back to the drawing board and work on that, but I'm still a believer in him moving forward. You had any other notes on this? You mentioned the hurricane's depth. I wanted to shout out Jordan Martinuk as well because I thought he was phenomenally. as a shorthanded goal, but in these two games, if you just enter them not knowing any backstory of player roles

or who's good or who wasn't, you'd come away from this being like Jordan Martinuk is a superstar because he's just flying around there, creating dangerous opportunities, just so dominant physically and has looked like one of the best, if not the best players on the ice. So I think it's been an incredible start to the series for him, and

ultimately the hurricane's depth has kind of been winning out here. Absolutely. And just a note on Emih as well, like you, I'm a believer. In his talent, but he was on the ice for 12 scoring chances against in less than 12 minutes of 5 and 5 ice time. He just seems so, so tentative and lackadaisical away from the puck.

I just, every time he's on the ice and the hurricanes have possession, I worry about him defensively. I don't think his foot speed skating backwards is necessarily the best either. There just seems to be a casual was the best way you put it for how he sort of played away from the puck. You just sort of hope that with a fresh start or a fresh reset in the off season,

he's able to bounce back next year. But outside of that, I mean, I just don't see a realistic path for the devils to get back into this unless their special teams start rolling again. To give up that Martinuk short-handed goal was so killer because, not just because it obviously stood out as a game winner, but also the context of where the game was at, where the devils had sort of controlled the first period and you're thinking, okay, the compete is there,

the effort is there. But then the start of the second period up until that point, the hurricanes were stacking a lot of shifts. They'd obviously tied the game. There was that other chance where Pesci had to essentially save a goal. And the devils were fortunate not to be down to one at that point. And then the one counterattack shift off the rush where Cody Glass creates that,

that scoring chance in the slot draws the penalty and you're going in the playoffs you need to find a way when the other team is like has you against the ropes for a stretch of five to ten minutes to break that momentum um and turn things around and i looked at that power play as okay even if the devils don't score here they need to look poise with the puck create some chances uh do something to turn the tide back into into their favor and to then give up the the shorthanded goal and they've been losing a lot of draws on the on the on the power play as well that's been problematic in game too but to give up a give up the goal that's just backbreaking and in something that's really tough to recover from especially when your team that doesn't have many offensive

weapons right now i agree i think that hurricanes pk as you watch them is obviously such a weapon and it was as we said the number one rank unit in the regular season and you just look ahead and they're currently listed as the stanley cup favorites on the betting market um just just I think because of their path and how, you know, plausible at least a return to the Eastern Conference final is for them this year. If they are to get there or even along the way, they're going to bump into some really potent power plays. And that could be a massive point of leverage for them in those series.

So it's definitely something to keep an eye on moving forward. All right, let's get into Leaf Sense here. Or as I like to call it, the Jim Benning Bowl for you. As I have you on here, Harmon, they've got, you've got what, OEL and TANF on one side, Then you've got Travis Green, Highmore, God Dead, who scores a goal in this game, even Travis Hammack on the roster.

A lot of Canucks influence here, certainly. The Leaf scored another power play goal, 18 seconds into their opportunity in this game, I believe. I think it was their only power play in this one after they scored the three quick ones in game one. And I know you had some notes on the Sends PK and kind of how they handled it. Obviously, this one was a bit of a fortunate bounce

in off of Allmark, essentially deflected it off of Nick Jensen. in this one, but just in terms of the way the Sends have been playing this, especially against this very lethal five forward unit that the Leaves have been running, is certainly something they need to look at

during this break between game two and three as it shifts to Ottawa. Definitely. I mean, for starters, it'd be nice if they could win a freaking draw short-handed. That's been massive, and especially on special teams, it's a massive point of leverage, but even once the Leaves have gotten set up,

I'm not a fan of how passive the Sands PK is. It sort of feels like Toronto has an opportunity to comfortably work the puck around and spot seams, find openings. They don't feel the pressure. And to me, when I look at the best penalty killing teams in the NHL, like Carolina, obviously, like Vancouver at times, they were the third best PK this year. they do such a good job of tactfully applying pressure

and not giving players even high in the zone off the flank time and space to really hunt for plays, see the ice. A lot of times the best penalty killing teams are able to force power plays to a point where they're not even able to think about the players that they're drawing up. They're just trying to work the pocket around quickly enough to where they don't turn it over. and there isn't a stick that's able to disrupt a pass and allow and allow clearance, whereas the Sends PK, just philosophically with, again, how passive it is, there is none of that pressure that they're applying.

And because of that, it just feels like the Leafs power play, which has been so potent since they went to that five forward set, something's got to change. I don't think they're going to have success that way. And obviously, Marner is much better equipped than your typical forward of being, you know, the defensive conscience and being the last guy back. But one of the reasons why I think we'd see teams typically resist the urge or be unwilling to tolerate the risk of five forward units is because of what you give back defensively if the other

team is able to get the puck and push back in transition. And as you, you know, what you're describing there are the biggest losses is you're just not threatening that at all and not really creating any of those opportunities, right? And so I think that's a massive letdown. Anthony Stollars was once again really good. Now, I wanted to know Mike Kelly had this awesome stat where for the series through two games, and I think this really describes or encapsulates the way this series has been played, he's 36 for 36 facing shots from the perimeter, essentially ones outside the slot.

He's 16 for 16 on screen shots in this game. The two goals, the Schenner scored were the one Brady could chuckle where it bounces in off Carlo, I believe. and then the second one with a nice Goddette tip out front. But in terms of everything clean, he's essentially been a brick wall all year, but especially in this series and keeps doing the job. And I think the senators just need to find a way. And maybe this is asking too much because they haven't really shown any signs of it all season of being more threatening 5-1-5, right?

Like they've had lack juice there. Certainly a lot of the stuff is non-threatening in terms of being held to the outside or even if it is closer proximity to the net, it's something where Staro is able to get across with plenty of time and get set and he's going to absorb those more often than not. And so they just need to find a way to be more creative in terms of actually creating some of those openings,

I guess, and threatening them in that way because for all the Shaw volume they've had, the actual high danger opportunities haven't been good enough. Yeah, they haven't created enough from the inner slot. they haven't had many dynamic chances off the rush. That stood out where, okay, the sends are getting their shots. They're backing up some offense's own time, especially in some of these games where they've been trailing.

But a lot of it is in situations where the Leafs have their defensive structure already set. They've been able to sort of pack the slot. And sure, there have been occasional moments where just through sheer effort and fighting their way to the inside, they've been able to get. looks that way, but outside of that avenue, it's been a real struggle for them to get to the inside to take the puck to the slot. And especially in transition, like I said, they've looked really flat at times. And to also go back to just sort of the difference between these teams right now the Sends glow up defensively this year has been pretty dramatic under Travis Green.

But to see the egregious lapses in their D zone coverage throughout that game, especially in the first five minutes, it's consistently put them behind the eight ball. It's put Linus Allmark in some tough spots. Just through the first five minutes, I mean, Marner had the chance where he was in all alone had essentially half a net to to shoot on. He hit the, he hit the post so the Sends got away with one there, but that's just the sort of look that a defensively stingy Sends team that isn't equipped to create a lot offensively, especially in the regular season,

they've, they've had long stretches where manufacturing offense has been an issue. If you're going to, if you're going to be a lower event team that is renowned more for its defensive structure, you can't allow looks like that. In the first five minutes, Holmberg, also had a breakaway, the Morgan Riley goal where he's cutting back post and Batherson's sort of with him, but isn't able to actually fully check his stick, but also to allow the Nealander East West passed all the way through. Like the Sends have been able to create those east west passes. So the Sends in turn can't allow those those types of looks. And then even just

some of the defending on the Domi O.T. winner, of course, was was egregious, but especially especially in the first five minutes, I thought their D's own coverage was, um, was porous. I think the Sends top four, which is good on paper. And,

and, and we expected to be a potential strength has, um, has underperformed at times, especially the Shabbat Jensen pair in the first period. I thought, uh, got exposed and,

and, and had trouble, uh, against some of the, the size and, in the physicality that, um, you know,

nize and, uh, and Matthews were offering at times. Yeah, the meat of this game from, you know, certainly the second period, but a lot of the third as well was played how I expected the series to transpire in terms of relatively low of end kind of grinding,

not much happening. The power play fireworks in these two games have been, the kind of reprieve from that. You mentioned the dynamic looks off the rush for the Sends and how they're craving it. I actually do think the one guy in these two games that's really stood out to me there, has been Drake Batherson.

He had the one towards the end of regulation as well where he put a really nice move and got a good opportunity coming downhill. Now unfortunately, on the OT winner, it was an appalling sequence in so many ways from him, right? Like the very casual backhand pass into traffic coming into the Leafs offensive zone, turns it over to Simone Benoit,

and then coming back, backtracking, just the fly-by on Domi that I'm sure, all hockey media is talking about all day today in terms of how that is not going to get it done in the postseason. I did think the OT winner being Max Domi from Simone Benoit was a hilarious scoring play for a variety of reasons because Leaves fans have been very frustrated with Max Domi. I think understandably so. And even throughout a large stretch of this game, it's like, why is he playing such a prominent role? Nothing's really happening. And then he puts away the biggest shot in this game. And then Simone Benoit, who kind of sticks out like a sort of time at times,

all of a sudden gets that steel off the Bathurston pass and then creates this dynamic rush opportunity where he pushes Cleven back, creates the entry, drops it off to Domey, and then Dome he's able to cut in and pass Batherson. And so I thought that was a very, very ironic overtime winner.

I did think, you know, someone that stuck out to me in watching this game, and I know you were all over it as well. I thought Matthew Nyes was a monster early on. He just runs over Nick Jensen as if he's not there. And then on that Martin Ropperoff opportunity you're talking about, flash is some really high level playmaking skill from behind

the net where he wins the battle and he gets it out to Marner through traffic for that post shot. He had the give and go with like three minutes left in the third period that was tremendous. So you love to see that stuff from him because you know you're going to get some of the tap-ins and greasy goals around the net. But some of that playmaking in particular and vision and creativity is really cool to see from him. And, you know, that's been flashing through more and more. And especially in this game, it was very evident. his evolution this year has been such a boost for the Leafs top six and it gives them another

creator outside of Matthews, Marner, Nealander, Tavares, which is huge, right? Because those guys typically in past post seasons have had lulls. And Nye sticks out not just as, oh, he's an excellent complimentary guy who has chops at the front of the net to convert on opportunities. But there are times where he's legitimately dictating play because of how. much of a beast, how much of a bull, um, he is where he can individually make plays.

He looks really dangerous, just bulldozing his way to, uh, to the net. And he's been an absolute, um, handful, especially in, uh, a playoff style environment where it can be so difficult to get to the front of the net. Um, you just love to see his, his skill set. And, and that's again,

an absolute game changer for the Leafs top six and in my mind. All right, harm. We got to get out of here. We didn't have time for, for, for Vegas. Minnesota. It was a very late game. I did get to watch it and really enjoyed it. I think the first two games of that series have been full marks, entertainment values, so much pace and scoring chances. It was a really fun one. We'll talk more about it on the next show as we progress in this series. It goes back to Minnesota, but I did want to quickly just touch on that. I'll let you plug some stuff here on the way out. What do you got in terms of playoff coverage now that the

Canucks season is mercifully done? Yeah, it's TBD. Still working on it, but I think the funnest piece. I've written in a while it's definitely the cup tiers. Getting a panel of nine execs to rate every playoff team and getting some pretty candid commentary. If fans haven't checked that out, I think they'll have a lot of fun.

All right, buddy, good stuff. Well, I'm looking forward to having you back on as we progress in this postseason and do more breakdowns like this. That is all from us today. If you enjoyed today's show, please give us a five-star rating and review and show us some love wherever you listen to the show. I'll be back taking a couple days off here. We'll be back Friday night. We're starting our Palm

Spring series with me and Drance, so we'll have a lot more shows coming after that, but I think we're going to do a two-hour show on Friday night. So looking forward to that, in the meantime, enjoy the rest of these playoff games. And thank you for listening to the Hockey, Ocast, streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network.