The Hockey PDOcast - Keys For Habs vs. Sabres Coming Out Of Game 5, and How The Avalanche Beat The Wild

Episode Date: May 15, 2026

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Jack Han to go through their takeaways from Game 5 of Canadiens vs. Sabres, and look ahead to Game 6 of that series on Saturday night. Then Meghan Angley joins the show to unpack how the Avalanche beat the Wild in 5 games in their second round matchup. 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.

dressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the HockeyPedioCast. My name is Dimitri Filipovich, and joining me is my good buddy, Jack Hahn. Jack, what's going on in? Well, a very high-scoring series. Lots of fun to watch. Maybe not so much if you're a fan of low-scoring, low-penal totals hockey, but, you know, it's my gem.

As we should have expected from the Sabres, Canadians, of course, the plan for you and I today. We're going to go through Hab Sabers game five from Thursday night with the Habs winning 6-3 to go up 3-2 in the series, get it to everything we saw from that game set up game six on Saturday night in Montreal as well for the last round two series still going. It was certainly a bonkers start to the game, right? The two teams traded five goals back and forth in about eight minutes worth of game time. I also love, you know, I have you on quite often and you and I, I'd like to think.

think are pretty thoughtful, breaking down the game, looking at player usage, strategy, how teams are trying to attack opposing goalies and defenses. And then you get a stretch like that where it all essentially gets thrown out the window because the puck just starts chaotically bouncing in off people and that's playoff hockey at its finest. So I don't know, what were your thoughts in not just on that game, but how this series has sort of transpired because I don't think you and I have gotten a chance to speak since the Canadians beat the lightning in seven. And we did a little bit of a preview for the series, but now we have five games to work with. So I like to just talk about something sort of a little bit off topic for the first couple of minutes,

which is someone in my family, in my entourage works with a local convenience store chain in the Montreal area. and what this chain has done is they've set up a basically a giveaway where after every single habs win they're giving away free slushies or whatever their equivalent of slushies are and it's become such a thing locally because now you have a bunch of people pissed off that basically gas station convenience stores are being overrun by kids after a habs win waiting for their free slushy and like you can't get in to pay for your gas or to grab a pack of gum or whatever.

And the people working at the company themselves are pissed off because every Habs win creates additional work for them and they're losing money. So, I mean, even though it is surprising, there are actually some people in Montreal actively rooting against this Habs team. Listen, that sounds like champagne problems to me. I like the use of entourage there. I had no idea that you had an entourage to begin with.

would you say that you're part of my entourage here on the PDO cast? If we're on the Discord, then we're all part of the same mostly functional entourage. Yes, undoubtedly. Yeah, you know, so as part of those, the five goals that I mentioned there, you've got, you know, the one from Carrier, for example, that's a point shot that just bounces in off TechCe. Although we can talk more about Carrier later. I've really liked his decision making with the puck in this series. the two goals early from the sabers, whether it's Quinn kind of throwing it out front from the left circle

and it double bounces off Zucker and a Habs defenseman. Later on, Josh Stone kind of tosses a puck that looks relatively harmless from the left circle, finds its way through this window amongst all the bodies in front of Dobeche. I did think, regardless of those bounces, though, for the Sabres as one of the positives coming out of this game, I did like, especially the first like 28 to 30 minutes of this game, I thought they had much more sustained offensive zone time.

The forecheck was getting there a little better, disrupting abs breakouts, allowing them to build off of it and getting into their cycle game, especially early in that second period, which they unfortunately weren't able to turn into a goal. But there was a lot of good stuff there from Zach Benson down low, creating a bunch of Josh Norris chances. And the reason why I bring that up is despite Buffalo's game four win in Montreal to tie this series up. I noted after that one that I didn't like the way their game was headed in this. series because for a couple games in a row, they weren't playing the way they played in the regular season. They were pretty much entirely a counter-punching rush team and the Havs were controlling a lot of the flow and a lot of the offensive zone time. And it was a pretty precarious spot. And so they got back to that a little bit. Of course, the game got away from them

after that. But that was one of my takeaways beyond the puck bounces and the weird goals that were scored early on. Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I sort of systematically watch every Habs game. I don't watch every Buffalo Sabres game, but the one line that's really impressed me is Benson with Norris and Don. Like when those three guys are are matched up against Montreal Suzuki line, I feel like Suzuki line has a really hard time defending them in zone, even when, you know, Lane Hudson and Noah Dobbs are out there with them. And, you know, like, we've seen this a lot with Josh Jones play driving throughout the regular season. Josh Norris obviously has been very productive in spurts when he's been healthy.

And Zach Benson is obviously a PDL cast favorite. But I just think, like, at 5 on 5, like this is actually Buffalo's best line. And as long as Nora stays healthy, like there's really still some room to grow for this line. And also I've really been impressed with Consta Heleneas. And Consta Heleneas has been a player that I've known for a long time because actually when I was consulting with Toppera in the finish league,

Heleneas was a player that actually grew up in our organization, but we didn't have him my first year because he was alone to Eucurit to get more ice time because Eucurit was more of a sort of a mid-table team, I would say, or even below mid-table team in Liga at that time. And, you know, his entourage basically felt like he would get more playing time in his draft year on a Lester pro team, which I think is a totally fair thing. The following year, he gets drafted by Buffalo. and, you know, I was hoping that they would,

that Buffalo would loan him back to us so that, you know, he could come in and be our number one center. That didn't happen. He ends up going to Rochester. And for a while there, I was, you know, talking to our staff and was saying, like, you know, like, let's not close a draw on this. I think Heleneas could be bad because the HL is a really tough league

for a young European player to crack. He has, you know, not necessarily a dominant season, but a very solid one. And then the following year now, that brings us to this spring and he's in the NHL, you know, doing some really cool things already. So, you know, for Buffalo, I think, again, like the Benson, Norris, Stone line and Hellenius are two real bright spots that they can build around. Because obviously, we're hoping that the Sabres run is not going to be a one-off that they're going to be able to build on this and be a threat in the Atlantic for years to come. So I think those two aspects of their game have really got me optimistic. Hell, this is awesome.

He was very productive, pretty much everywhere he played this year, scoring a bunch of goals, plays with a very clear and apparent level of swag as well, as if he belongs and he gets air dropped into this series in game four, gets a bunch of chances off the rush in game four hits the post, doesn't wind up scoring, but just looks dangerous and gives him offensive juice, and then he converts one in transition here.

So I agree with you. That's massive. Where this game swung for me was, you know, is three two sabers coming out of the first period. They get those chances that I outlined with Benson doing a lot of work down low against Hudson and really pinning the Habs top line down there, making them defend, getting it into the slot for Norris. He gets, I think, four chances by my count in very close succession,

doesn't convert, keeps it at three, two after a couple saves by Jacob Dobish. Cage Thompson gets in all alone. Shortly thereafter off a nice reentry play by Byram to catch the habs trying to sneak in a change, sends him in for a breakaway. Thompson gets stopped. And then after that, it was all habs for the rest of the period. They get the 3-3 goal off a beautiful set play in the offensive zone that Shirley must have made Marty St. Louis quite happy based on everything I know about him and it was beautiful execution on their part. Then Demadov creates a look off the rush and that rebound gets bad. tapped in by Jake Evans, who beats the Sabres behind Dukeopekalukin for the rebound,

and then they score a couple power play goals. So I want to spend more time towards the end talking about the Sabres and some of the fixes and adjustments for them to try to extend this series and force a game 7. But let's talk Habs a little bit here in terms of some of the stuff they've been doing offensively in this series really since game one to give the Sabres trouble, create as much offense as they have because we spent a lot of time talking about the struggles of the top line 5-1-5. the lack of production and they finally get their first goal off of for check here.

But I've been very impressed with not only the volume, but the quality of chances they've been creating throughout these games and giving the Sabres D quite a bit of trouble. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's, you know, the story of the first round against Tampa was, Tampa was getting a lot of the zone time in a lot of the sort of the low percentage looks. And once in a while, the haves would counter and, you know, get right to the house. Right.

And I think Buffalo was a team that they skew offense. So they are going to give you a lot of good looks on the counterattack if, you know, their fourth man turns the puck over or if there's a bad balance or whatever. We saw sort of right off the draw where maybe they don't defend set pieces quite as well as a more veteran team on the, the Josh Anderson goal with, you know, Hudson coming downhill and, you know, finding a passing lane.

I mean, like the half. Habs have been a very good passing team and, you know, a quick opportunistic team throughout the season. I don't think they're doing anything necessarily new or distinct. They're finding ways to survive against Buffalo's top four and then just, you know, sort of finding these little pockets of opportunity. Because, like, I think if Buffalo is, you know, playing a 10 out of 10, you know, puck possession game, it's very difficult for the haps to actually get stopped. and to force changes to possession. But as soon as Buffalo gets a little bit sloppy, like that's where the haves of speed and skill

can allow them to take over. I guess that's been the issue, though, in this series, particularly, like for long stretches of games two to four, that hasn't really been the case in terms of the puck possession for the Sabres, and they've been so reliant on the rush stuff and the habs have generated a lot more zone time. Then I think I was expecting, especially coming out of that round one series against Tampa,

it's been a bit of a role reversal for them. You know that first goal, they score in the first period off the four check where Timmins on the retrieval, comes around the net, turns it over, Slifkovsky gets it to Suzuki, he waits it out patiently, gets it back to Caulfield. That was the first 5-1-5 goal. That line has scored all postseason. It hasn't mattered to this point because without those three on the ice, the habs are up 20 to 6. 5-1-5, and we've spoken about some of those contributions from secondary scorers. But Caulfield now is goals in three straight, that was his first 5-15 goal, but three straight games with a goal. and I've got him down for 20 scoring chances this series.

So the opportunities have been quite abundant for him. And now we're looking at a Saturday night on Hockey Night and Canada at home, which he has been electric in throughout this season. So that should be very exciting. For the HABs, let's talk Demetov a little bit because he finally gets one to go in the third period ripping home a power play shot from the middle of the ice. He'd had like 30 plus scoring chances this postseason prior to scoring

and even within this game. I thought he really helped swing it in the Havs favor in the second period. He was just teeing off with grade A look after grade A look. And then eventually got a couple great saves from Muko Pekulukinin and just missed on a couple others. And then he finally gets one to go. I feel like he definitely, I know you've spoken about this in the past within the context of the Habs power play, him being really their most primary one-time option with the handiness of that group and the way they move it around. And even there was one in this game where it was 5-15, but he gets one of the first.

of those one-time opportunities and he kind of like flubs it and doesn't turn her around and that maybe happens a bit too often. So that would be the most natural area improvement for him heading into next year. But regardless, seeing him this involved and aggressive and making plays was incredibly exciting. And it was nice to see him rewarded because I think otherwise beyond the production, he's been very visible and very effective for this team and creating looks with that line with Jake Evans and Alex Newhook. Yeah, I mean, for a 20-year-old forward to be this impactful and playing this important of a role, which is obviously first power play, but also as sort of the main driver on your second line.

Like, you know, the sky's a limit for him. As you mentioned, the only sort of negative I see in his game right now is just the fact that I think he overshoots the puck. He maybe tries to pull a little bit too much mustard, which is why you seem flubbed as as much as he does. So as he gets used to this pace of play and as maybe he gains that next like 5% strength, and now he's able to shoot the puck instead of, you know, using 9 or 10 out of 10 effort, he's maybe able to shoot it consistently with 6, 7, or 8 out of 10,

then he's going to be way more consistent and way more accurate. Aside from that, you know, like I'm still looking for him to maybe be more of a focal point on the power play because the more of a focal point he is in terms of holding the puck, the more of a trigger man than Caulfield and Suzuki become. because instead of the play going left to right or Demidov, now, you know, if Demadov has more time on the puck, the play can go right to left into a Caulfield one-timer, for example. That line with him, Evans and You Hook has been so good. They're up 5-0-5-15 in this series, 60% expected goals share.

Evans and Eugxon are leading the team in 5-15 scoring chance contributions, and they've been great. I also think that Denau line with Ham Anderson and Texier has been so valuable, You look at the way they've gone about the matchups in this series and 25 minutes, 5-1-5 against the Thompson-Tuck combo, and they're outscoring them. Before and out they have like 75% expected goal share, just crushing them. And we're going to talk more about that Sabres top line and some of their issues in a second here. But a lot of that has helped insulate the lack of production from the top line. And if Caulfield is able to build on this and they convert on some of their looks and Slipkowski rings went off the bar on a two-on-one in this game as well. and the third, things could really open up for this HAB team,

not only for the rest of this series, but potentially against the hurricanes where they're going to need all systems go up front. Yeah, I mean, I think Jake Evans has been a really positive surprise this round because against Tampa and for most of regular season, in fact, Hugh was more of a bottom six player for Montreal. And, you know, like not having a reliable second line center that can chip in a little bit offensively really hurts you this time of year.

I don't think Jake Evans, you know, if the HABs move on to the next round, he may not be that player against the next opponent and he may not be that long term for this team. But at least, you know, in the past couple of weeks, he's done really well in this role. You have any other notes on the HABs before we get back to the Sabres end and look ahead to game six? I've been blown away by Alex Carrier's puck placement and decision making in general beyond the bounce off of Texie here. He set up another couple of couple great looks with really understanding. ending. I think it having a good feel for where the puck needs to go, despite not being a primary offensive driver himself. And you could honestly watch this series and you would never believe that he's only had like one season in the NHL with 25 plus points because he's moving it so,

so efficiently right now. Yeah, I mean, he's sort of that classic underrated, you know, not that big, not overly fast, doesn't pull up a ton of points, tilts the ice the right way, like a cromulent top four defenseman. But, you know, not like a, not like a, a top pair guy by any means, but someone who can really help you and someone that every team needs. So he's definitely, I think he's played a little bit above his usual level right now on his second pair with Mike Matheson.

I think, you know, Matheson's done a fair job, even though he's kind of a lightning rod for controversy. And depending on how you watch the game, you may either really like him or really dislike him. But they've been fine. Long term,

this is an area that certainly Montreal will like to keep upgrading on, whether it's with Ryanbacker, or, you know, Anxtram or somebody else down the road. Again, same with Evans. Like, for now they're doing the job and the habs are better off for it, but another area where like this team can stand to get better long term. And the final thing that I want to say is, you know, Arbor Jack Eye has been in the lineup more often than not.

And if you look analytically during the regular season, you know, he's not a driver at all. He's probably the farthest thing from that. But there's an element of in the postseason, not being afraid to take a hit makes you more effective. And for the most part, he's actually been quite all right in limited minutes. Nice use of cromulent there.

You hit your quota for this episode of the PDO cast. I know the listeners were excited about how many times you dropped it in your last appearance. All right, Sabers. Tage Thompson and Alex Duck have been catastrophically bad, and there's no other way to put it. They've played 57, 5-on-5 minutes together in this series. they're getting outscored 7-0,

29% expected goals share. High-angered chances are 22 to 7 for Montreal, primarily playing against that Denou line. And in game 5, it really felt like what you'd hope is a rock bottom. 15% expected goal share, high-dangered chances, 8-1, Montreal, despite the fact that they were out there for six offensive zone draws and insulated with zero defensive zone draws. And it's become an unavoidable issue, right?

because the Benson and Don't combo have really held up there in the bargain, as you mentioned with Helen who's coming in. I think he's really reinvigorated, especially Zucker, but that Zucker Quinn line that have been struggling with Ryan McLeod previously, but this is a combo that once again keeps playing as their top two forwards in 515 usage, in all situations usage, getting all the cushiest assignments, and yet just have produced nothing. And beyond that have been, I think, actively detrimental.

to causing a lot of the issues that have plagued the Sabres in these three losses so far in the series. I mean, I've started calling Alex to talk to $10 million man, sort of maybe a little bit sardonically. And he's been... Oh, man, I don't know after this series. If any GMs are watching it, I'm not sure how that's going to go for him. I mean, he could get $10 million over three years, I guess, or over two years, something like that. He'll still get $10 million on the next contract,

but it's just whether it's per year or over the length of the deal. But he'll certainly still make bank. I mean, given the state of the market and also how we know GMs have, don't really change their opinions that much on players. Like if you believe someone is a certain type of player, it's going to take a lot of evidence to the contrary. And you'd never want to overweight one playoff series or one playoff run like this, but man, it's been ugly.

He's got zero goals on 32 attempts in this series. And those 32 attempts, as I've talked about, are just some of the least efficient, most detrimental shot selection you're ever going to see like one and duns, missing the net, which fuels counterattacks for the HABs, just completely killing offensive momentum. And it's been a problem, you know, I don't expect too much from these head coaching interviews or sound bites you get between games or after games, but I did see Lindy Ruff was asked about this.

And, you know, he kind of noted that Tuck's kind of pressing a little bit right now and trying to like overdo it and make too many plays. And I'm like, man, I would, I would, as I has Sabers fan or someone rooting for a long series, I would just settle for one play at this point. I don't know about making many more plays. Like, let's just start with one and kind of stack it together from there because it's been really rough right now offensively for him. So, I mean, obviously the biggest weapon on this line when is on is Thompson's shot, right?

And what I'm seeing with Thompson now is I like his ability to get into the middle and to delay off of a controlled entry. I just find that he has the puck on his stick too long because he's really at his best when he's working with guys like Don who can get the puck off the wall for him or like a Zach Benson who can hold the puck and then set him up. Whereas if Tatech Thompson has the puck on his stick for more than two or three seconds, yeah, like, you know, he has a good shot and he may score the odd one from the perimeter, but he's really not as dangerous as he could be.

And especially on the power play, I find like him and Dahlene, play off each other quite a bit and they'll exchange the puck. But it seems like as soon as the puck is on Thompson's thick for more than a second, the whole play sort of bogs down because, you know, that one-timer threat is non-existent. I mean, the issue is he's not even getting those shots right now, right? He's got nine total shots on goal in these five games, just six of them, five-on-five and like 70 minutes worth of action.

And his only 5-15 point is functionally an empty-netter that he tapped in off a rebound coming off the end wall to start game. three or game three yeah and the penalty he takes against evans which winds up immediately costing them was incredibly bad and undisciplined and there's that i think dalien's taken six penalties as well and their top players have done them in on that front i think in general though like what we've seen from this group down the middle because mcclough played his way out of his spot and got bumped down to the fourth line essentially and i know they're trying to mix him in here or there to get him going but him, Josh Norris, who you mentioned his productivity, I think, has largely escaped criticism in this series because he gets to play with Benson and Don't and those two guys have been so good.

And the two centers sandwiching him on the depth chart in Thompson and McLeod have so visibly struggled that no one's really been talking about it. But I thought his lack of converting those opportunities in game five really cost them. And it's crazy that a 20-year-old in Constellin who gets air-dropped, as I said, in the past two games, he's contributed more offensively than all three of those guys have combined essentially in their five games, and they have to figure out to get it going.

I mean, Lindy Ruff's been really slow here to adjust in terms of either separating Tuck and Thompson or even moving Krebs off of that and potentially getting either Benson or Don up there and just trying to do something to be different because I haven't seen anything in these games that would inspire confidence that kind of just continuing to go back to the well

with the same thing is going to lead to different results because the production's been bad but the process has been even worse. I mean, I wonder if the solution could be if you flip Helen News and tuck because I just find a lot of what I don't like with tuck is just he sort of takes the air out of the room when he has the puck like he wants to do things individually.

And in that way, it's almost a little bit like what Josh Anderson does. And obviously during the regular season, Anderson was neither really a play driver nor producer for the HABS. But in this postseason, he's able to make things happen just individually, whether it's with the forecheck, with the hit, or maybe with, you know, his speed down the boards. So if maybe you match up tuck against the HAB's bottom six or, or their third pair forwards,

sorry, their third pair Ds. And then you make HALANU sort of the third guy on the top line and maybe move Thompson to the wing, like maybe that's now a legitimately good top six line. And then Tuck can do whatever he wants on his third line. Yeah, I think that's a great point. I mean, Tuck's been so tunnel-visioned in one-track mind in terms of looking for his own offense that I do think it's really sapped a lot of that. Taking the air out of the room is a great way to put it.

A couple other things to look ahead for game six. One is, I don't really understand why we've spoken a lot about the Sabres penalty killed throughout this postseason and it's finally coming. home to ruse, I think the Habs scored two goals in like a minute and a half to break game five open. But Malenstein and Greenway being the first guys used on the PK has been baffling to me. And then the other one is another guy they rely down to man is Connor Timmons. And he's got some utility in terms of blocking shots and kind of just taking up space. And he did a good job with that in game four when the Habs had a million power plays.

But he was rough in this game five. he was on the ice for four out of the six goals against, just so glacially slow. I mean, there's a turnover coming around the net for Caulfield's four-check goal. But even on the Anderson one, like, if you go back and pause it, he's clearly got the brains to see that play coming in sniff it out to the point where he turns us back and he's like looking at Anderson before it materializes and he realizes where the puck's going to go.

But he just doesn't have the physical tools to get there. And it's really costing them. And I don't understand why they're going with this, you know, him and Shen, in the lineup at the same time because they're not even being used as a pair. And if anything, it's throwing everything into a chaotic blender where because they're not using them together, all of a sudden, Timmins is playing regular shifts with either power or Dahlin and a couple catastrophic ones with Bowen Byram. And essentially there's no continuity within that top four because they're having to accommodate

these bottom two guys. And so all of a sudden, there's all sorts of different pairs and it's just been disorganized in my opinion. So I'm not sure if you have any notes on that, but I feel like that would be a pretty obvious, maybe not crazy consequential, but still important shift that I think the Sabres could make

heading into this game six. Yeah, I mean, maybe this is more for the offseason because at this point, like this team is what it is. But, you know, for most of the regular season, you had Jason Zucker

taking face-offs on the first power play unit, which you probably shouldn't have that. And now you have, you know, as you mentioned, Greenway and Malliston, neither of which are natural centers in this league, you know, starting against the other team's best power play players, which doesn't make a lot of sense. You have Connor Timmons who really projected more as an offensive defenseman for most of his career,

being your sort of first wave right-handed defenseman because you don't have any right-handed defenseman except Kessel Rang, who's on in the lineup right now. So those are sort of off-season things to address for this team. Sort of these little sort of ads that you can find either on the trade market or on the UFA market where like good teams have those players. Like good teams have players who can win faceoffs, you know, in high leverage special teams moments, right? And we know that faceoffs are overrated for the most part. But if you're a team that wants to go more than around or two in the playoffs, like you have to have these people in place.

You have to have a right-handed defenseman who's actually a really good penalty killer. Because on the left side, the sabres are set, but then on the right side, they're really thin. So, you know, short of bringing in Kesselwring into the lineup, like, I don't really see a solution right now. It's really sort of an offseason player personnel type of situation. All right, buddy. You got anything else ahead of game six that you want to highlight for the listeners or anything you're looking at that you feel like could be make or break for either of these teams? No, aside from the fact that if the HABs win, game six, Slushies on are new.

They're definitely not on me. You can find out where to get them for free. You're going to make a lot of people angry, but we'll see what happens there. All right. Well, I'm looking forward to that game on Saturday night. I think, yeah, as I said, I'm looking to see who's able to control the zone time battle.

I think that's been a really telling battleground in the series, and then obviously the special teams with how, you know, on the precipice, it's felt like the HABs have been all series and finally breaking through in game five, and I think the Sabres need to be very careful with taking those penalties. But yeah, it'll be fun to watch, and I'm looking forward to it. What do you want to promote on the way out here? So I've been sending out sort of weekly playoff tactical updates

on the hockey tactics newsletter. So just Google that. You'll find it easily. If you want to learn about the tactics of every single NHL team, check out Hockey Tactics 2026. It's an e-book that I've published. on gumroad.com. All right, buddy, keep up the great work.

We'll have you on again soon. We're going to take our break here. We're going to let Jack go. And then when we come back, we're going to bring on Megan Angley. She's going to join us to talk Avs Wild and look ahead to the rest of the abs postseason. You're listening to the Hockey P.D. cast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network.

All right. We're back here on the Hockeypedio cast. Joining us is Megan Angley for part two of today's show to get into the Colorado Avalanche, the round two series against the Minnesota Wild. haven't had a chance to record since that dramatic game five finish on Wednesday night with the abs coming back from down 3-0 to tie it late on a beautiful shot by Nathan McKinnon and then ultimately win it in overtime. We're going to break all of that down focusing on how they beat the wild, but also maybe looking ahead a little bit now that we know their West final opponent is going to be the Golden Knights. Megan, how's it going? It's going really well.

How are you doing? I'm doing well. I'm excited to have you on. First, it's a good occasion to talk abs after their round two. victory. Also, not that we need an excuse to do so because I love having you on. It's been way too long since we've had you on the show in general. So we're going to rectify that here today. Where do you want to start with this conversation about this round two matchup against the wild? I feel like, you know, we're going to spend a lot of time talking about the depth contributions and in typical PDO cast fashion focusing on the less heralded guys like Jack Jewelry and Brett Kulak and those types of players. But I do feel like we've got to start with Nathan McKinnon based on his goal scoring streak. And then in particular, the show. shot that makes this all possible, sending it into overtime and just his performance in this series in general where he was tasked with playing head-to-head against Caprizov against Quinn Hughes. We saw what those guys did to the Dallas stars in round one by comparison and

not only held his own but kept producing and won those minutes. And that probably is the logical place for us to start this conversation. Yeah, I think Nathan McKinnon's impact, Tracing back to game two in particular is significant. That allows them to go up to O in the series to Minnesota with a little bit of that leverage. And I think he showcased the physicality in his game that allows him to be a strong competitor on both sides of the puck. And in particular, the matchup top line to top line coming out of that game two really favored Nathan McKinnon's line. their possession 5B5 made it difficult for Caprizov line to generate the opportunities that they wanted to. And I think it's a huge credit to Nathan McKinnon leveraging that heaviness in his game and being non-discriminatory about it.

And so not shying away from top players in Minnesota kind of demoralizing their top six. I think that message sending is an important part of how this series unfolds as well. and then of course the skill component that shines through in a big moment game five for the Colorado avalanche. It was one of those moments where the depth had stepped up in a big way back-to-back games and that was truly a Nathan McKinnon moment. And after being well contained in the Dallas series last year, he really needed, I think, that moment to break through because running into a hot goaltender and Ottinger last year, I think was challenging and being well contained by Dallas was challenging. And so being able to break through a team that inevitably had a game plan

that was designed to shut him down, I think was an important part for Nathan McKinnon to get to a good place before the Western Conference final. Especially coming off relatively quiet by his standards, round one against L.A., right? He capped it off with the three-point effort in the clincher in game four, but beyond, before that hadn't scored, hadn't necessarily popped off the way he had. And, you know, that speaks to the difference in this year's Aves team than the previous one, that it didn't matter ultimately because they were able to get past the Kings with relative ease anyways. But I'm with you. I mean, he scored in every game in the series. He finished the five games with five goals, four primary assists. Adam down from 19 scoring chances set up another 14, 33 chance contributions

in five games is bonkers. And also attempted 50 shots, including 17 shot attempts in this game five. And it felt like early on there was an added level of urgency. Part of it was because they were down on the scoreboard very quickly. But I imagine also like smelling blood in the water and wanting to finish the series as opposed to having to drag it out, go back to Minnesota for game six. And all of a sudden things become a little dice here and then finally breaks through with that final one that we've talked about against Walshsted. And so it was a very sort of put the team on your back, aggressive performance that he hasn't had to do because of the depth of. his team, but when they needed it, he still delivered it. Absolutely.

So the battle at the top of the lineup is interesting to me in terms of telling the story of this series, right? Because as I said, McKinnon plays 83 minutes 5-1-5 in this series. The Wilde made sure to have Quinn Hughes out there for 52 of them. Carol Caprizov was his most frequent forward opponent, 48 of those minutes. And the Aves won. That head to head. I think McKinnon was up 2-0 against Hughes, 4-2.

against Caprizov, the splits for the wild are pretty crazy in terms of those minutes and then when those guys are out there without Nathan McKinnon to deal with. And really just the splits for Hughes in general where they were an entirely different team when he was on the ice in terms of what they could create

versus when he wasn't. And I do wonder part of it is not having Brodine, not having Erickson X, certainly I think limited John Hines's options. But in terms of playing it out for a team that has such a top heavy build the way this wild team did after the Quinn Hughes trade where so much of their offense was funneled and concentrated through Hughes, Caprizov and Boldie, essentially in favor

out there with Hughes. The logic is you're going to go as far as those guys take you. And there's limitations further down the lineup, but our best players are going to be better than the other team's best players. And in this series, they bump into a team where that wasn't the case. They lose those minutes. And then all of a sudden, you don't really have that secondary infrastructure to fall back on in terms of ways to win if they're not going to carry the team. And so that was sort of one of the unavoidable issues here for the Minnesota Wild where they sacrificed pretty much half of their best players minutes chasing Nathan McKinnon around and trying to play them into a draw and failing. And then if you're not going to win those minutes very decisively, you're certainly not

going to win the other ones against the staffs team. And that was their ultimate undoing, I thought. I think looking at game four, game five, the role of depth, it's not without mentioning that Nathan McKinnon and company inside the top six because I think that the role of whatever you classify as a second line because I think minutes sometimes varied by usage but typically whoever Brock Nelson Van Tchuskin were playing with and what they did possession wise was a challenge for Minnesota's top six to contain keeping their hands tied and then similarly Quinn Hughes obviously getting a lot of those matchups in totality the exhaustion and the wear and tear there,

it made it so that the other threats on the ice to be contained, whether it be a good momentum shift from the fourth line, had a little bit more opportunity to step into the game and break through because, like you said, Minnesota's game plan really revolved around chasing Nathan McKinnon and also trying to shut down Cal McIcar, another player who, if you look at some of the attempts

blocked throughout the series, he was stifled a lot at points And I think those are quiet parts of the storyline in the series because the way in which Nathan McKinnon and McCar were contained at points was able to keep Minnesota's hands tied so that the depth could break through. And the abs made as the series progress, you know, I was noting in round one, the stars partly because of a lack of foot speed up front, were never really able to get in on the forecheck against the wild and really test or pressure Quinn Hughes on any of those retrievals. And the abs from early on in the series made a point of kind of going to be able to. out of their way at times, even taking a couple penalties along the way and going across the line. But I think banking on the fact that accumulation would take its toll. And I did think Hughes was obviously awesome in this series. I mean, they won his minutes despite going up that much against

McKinnon overall. And then without him on the ICE 515, they outscored 10-0 and outshot 80 to 37. So it's kind of tough to say that Hughes was limited or taken out of this series, but clearly wasn't as efficient regardless. And I think part of that was the added emphasis. assists the Aves placed on that in terms of getting to him. And also, I think the fact that, you know, when you play as much as Hughes has, I was thinking about this. Like, I was going through all the Aves top opponents. And for example, at Jack Drury, they were going to talk about his most frequent opponent

was Quinn Hughes. And he did pretty well in those minutes. Played him to a draw. There were a couple times where near the blue line, he didn't fall for that shake and bake and took the body and knocked him off the puck in one possession. And that's awesome. And you're going to take that every time. But a Jack Drury and a depth role is going out there.

being like, all right, these are my minutes against Quinn Hughes. I'm going to go all out on them. Whereas for Quinn Hughes, pretty much every opponent in every matchup is that. And so it's going to be tougher, I think, to sort of filter that. The real story to me, though, in this series. And we don't want to bury the lead. Like, the Aves won the battle atop the lineup. I think where they ultimately won the war, though,

is as we've talked about further down the lineup and the secondary contributors, stepping up and significantly outplaying their counterparts on the Minnesota Wild, because, you know, as productive as McKinnon and Natchez were, McKinnon scores in every game, Natchez finishes with what, nine points in the four games and sets up the overtime winner. That duo did go a very long time in this series without actually scoring at 515. I think NACIS scores the goal like two or three minutes into game two. And then the next time they get a goal at 515 is the overtime winner at the end of game five. That's pretty much four games worth of action where they didn't actually score.

and in previous years, that would have been a death knell for the abs, right? We would have said, well, they would have gone as far as their top players go. They weren't able to produce 5-1-5, and that's why they lost. In this case, they get goals from 16 different skaters over these five games, and, you know, we're going to go through it all, Drury and Kelly, Brock Nelson, what he did defensively, Nazim Kadri, Nikwa, go on down the line. All of them kind of stepped up and chipped in in their own way. And so that kind of is the story for me here ultimately, like,

McKinna and Cadre are going to get, and NACS are going to get a lot of the attention and deservedly so, but I think that is what separates and differentiates this Savs team from the previous ones that fell short in rounds one and round two. I think too around Marty Natchez, his game, something he was trying to work through last year in the Dallas series was how to be more effective physically and engaged. And sometimes he would line a guy up for a hit and complete it

just to check that box. So the intentionality behind his tracking game was something he was still working on. And so I think throughout this regular season, he came to understand Colorado Avalanche Hockey a little bit better. And so when I look at the Nazim Cadry power play goal in game for Marty Nettches works Brock Faber. Like Minnesota wins that draw. And Marty Nettches gives him a little shove in the back and then lifts his stick so that he can't get to it and is able to find a seam to Cadry. And I think that little bit of physicality and the intentionality behind it is the difference for me in this version of Martin Nechis to where that maybe isn't a play that that point is so significant in what it meant to Marty Nechis. But to me, the development and who he is as a player is why there's still such a big conversation around the impact of Viav's top six just in terms of those steps forward that players like Marty Natchez have taken this year.

Oh, undoubtedly. I mean, as I said, he has nine points in five games, and that's great. But the way he worked his tail off, I thought, chasing after pucks and winning those battles and possessions and ultimately being rewarded for it with that overtime winner where he chases down a loose puck behind the net, comes around the net, and then hits Kulak for it. He was really doing that. I mean, dating back to I think like probably game three of the King series. And I think that's been really impressive and a huge development for him when some of the, you know, because he didn't get that. many shot opportunities in this game necessarily and there wasn't a ton of space for him on two or ones and three on twos to be coming downhill and playing his A game and yet he still found ways to contribute and produce and so that's huge um jury and kelly two players i know uh very near and dear to your heart combined to score the game winner in the third period of game four off the four check then they each win a battle in front of the net in game five and roots had a comeback tipping puck's home from the point. And I was reflecting on the season

and sort of the arc for both of them, right? For Kelly, he scores 21 goals in the regular season after combining for 24, 25 goals in his first four for NHL seasons. And then Drury, I tweeted this yesterday, three primary points in 44, 5 on 5 minutes in the series. 132 out of his faceoffs was up 5-2 in goals.

And it's a fourth line role, but it can't be understated, I think, like what a, what an impact those. guys made, especially considering the counterparts they were going up against with Minnesota. Yeah. I think, you know, jury's in a unique position in particular, just because he is due for a contract, RFA this summer. And there were discussions between jury and the abs in the regular season, just didn't reach an agreement. And so the addition of NICWA and the emphasis around centered up with the deadline and then also Nazim Kadri, put him in a position where it's important

for the best parts of his game to shine in playoffs, to showcase the 3C money that I think he's going to want to command. And a credit to Drury, too, is the responsibility of his game. And this is true of Parker Kelly. Like both these players in their own right have poured a lot of effort into being trusted, reliable, and consistent, while also fine-tuning the skill upside for Parker Kelly. It's been working with Haxall throughout the year,

as well as Nathan McKinnon, and for Jack Drury, especially becoming as strong as he is in the face off, all situations in particular, trusted with D-Zone draws. It's a guy you always see at every optional practice, usually last off the ice,

even between whistles, you constantly see him working on something. And those are the things that give him a competitive edge then in being able to recover pecks. And it's a sheer willpower thing combined between both players, to where there's a trust in one another, too,

in looking at both the Parker Kelly goals, like for games four and five, there's a trust that everyone's going to do their job effectively. Like that game for Parker Kelly goal in particular, there's so much trust from Jack Dury and Parker Kelly to force Bogosian under pressure to make a decision so that he can hang back on the half wall and collect.com. And every player involved in this play,

Yolkevi Ranta has to fight for it, but there's a trust in one another to get the job done. Well, and at the analytics conference in Denver at the start of April, Chris McFarland was on one of the panels with all the local GMs. And there was a Q&A period. And if I recall correctly, you asked the question specifically about Parker Kelly in terms of like the pro scouting side in terms of like player evaluation and then acquisitions and development of that scale. There is a level of like the shooting percentage is much higher as you'd expect for a player who all of a sudden scores 20 plus goals. There's some of those goals like the tip in game five where it's kind of just bottom six work ethic, grinding out tips and rebounds in front. There also been an exceeding number of beautiful shots and finishes, a couple downhill, wristers, some one timers, including that game four goal along the way. And I do think that is interesting.

And comparing the two is also fascinating. we could probably bank this for an off-season conversation, because if it keeps going this way, it'll be a big-time off-season subplot and a good problem for the abs to have because if jury keeps playing this well and earns himself more money, that probably means you're winning

and likely winning a Stanley Cup. And so you deal with that when the time comes and deal from a position of strength. But the ads love to do this in terms of trying to buy guys low in terms of signing them before they finally pop off, right? and they did so with Parker Kelly, where they get him to commit to that four-year deal for it's going to pay him just $1.7 million moving forward.

They tried to do that with Drury, as you mentioned. And I think he was very financially savvy to bet on himself and rebuff that at the time and has probably earned himself a good chunk of change because of that decision. And he'll be, what, a 26-year-old RFA one year out from unrestricted free agency this summer? So a strong spot to be in,

but I don't think it's that big of a concern. for the ads regardless because of Niqua under contract next year. And then, you know, you could get into Ross Colton, who might be a surplus or even a Valacuchin potentially and sort of reallocating that money if you need to in constructing this roster. So it's a good problem to have, but I think a fascinating developing subplot for the abs this summer. I like the shout-out about the necessary skill, puck skill involved in some of Parker Kelly's creation. Because even being a tip in redirect option is something that he is treated as an art for him. And so whether that's the value of being ahead of his defender or behind him, the stick placement,

there is an art to also recognizing which D is shooting and the value of getting inside that shot lane for the redirect. Like you see the respect show to Brett Burns shot from all of the abs because there's an understanding that that's going to the net. And so I think the fight from Kelly to get there, there's more IQ involved in this play. And even though if you look at how his stick actually gets the redirect, it perhaps doesn't look as intentional.

He is just trying to get his stick to the ice battling with Faber. I think there are other plays you can point to this year where he is very intentionally placing his stick in such a way and making the decision to either be in front of or behind his skater to very artfully get the redirect. and I have a lot of respect for that side of Parker Kelly's game. Yeah, I did as well. You know, one guy, they didn't get a lot of 5-15 production from necessarily in the series,

but I thought played a very valuable role regardless of the team was Brock Nelson, and he winds up with just the one empty net goal at the end of game four after scoring 33 goals a season and really having an awesome two-way season that results in him being a finalist for the Selke. he gets and draws the Matt Boldy assignment in this series, right? And if we're talking about the battle atop the lineup, there was a ton of McKinnon versus Caprizov, and with the Wild not winning those minutes, I think to have a chance they really needed Boldy

to have a nuclear series. And he did so in round one against Dallas, where I thought he was the best player against the stars. And he had some promising moments, right? A couple of very nifty rushes in this series, he's made plays on the power play. Even in game five, he starts the scoring for the wild with that play behind the net. And I thought that was his best game by far in the series, but the opportunities for him were much more limited.

In this series, particularly at 5-1-5, he doesn't score a single goal. 5-1-5 in the five games just has eight shots. And part of it is not having Eric's neck around, right? He starts the series play with Neil Yorov. They bump up McCarran to that spot. And you could see the frustration, I think, in terms of the usual finishing ability he's used to next to him. particularly in that overtime of Game 5, where he sends a two-on-one-pass over to Michael McCarran,

and 48 hours later, sources say McCarran's still trying to locate that puck because he hasn't found it yet. But it wasn't necessarily Boldie's fault, but ultimately, like, they needed to win that matchup. And despite Nelson not scoring himself, he comes out of those 31-5-on-5-head minutes. Avs are up to 1, and you're going to take that every time,

especially in terms of the way this series played out. Yeah, I have a lot of. respect for Brock Nelson, he earned a Salki vote from me. And sometimes it can be taken for granted granted what he does away from the puck to neutralize scoring chances for the other team. So even on the PK, for example, another guy who especially on PK draws is very strong in the faceoff dot and typically first guy out for that reason. But because of his length reach, he is great at taking away lanes with an artfully play stick check. And he's a high IQ player too, like in eating up time on the kill.

I forget which game it was, but he did it a couple times. Just making one extra passback with possession of the Pacto player like Kulak to get the clear from there to just kill a little bit more time. And those types of decisions are very intelligent in my eyes and maybe fly under the radar. I look too at like the Nick Woggle because we saw Brock Nelson with a few different line mates throughout the series. Nick Woggle and Game 4, he's going through traffic.

When he takes the extra strides, it can be really complimentary to players like Bautenachushkin, for example, because of his length and size, that could be two net front guys or a second layer of support to help come up with a puck in a battle that maybe doesn't get enough credit.

And so the offensive impact maybe doesn't pop off the page coming out of this series. But to your point, I even think something like the switch from Murav to McCarran by the end of the series is in part because Brock Nelson was kind of feasting on how young Murav was. And they needed to get a little bit more size, experience, grit there just because Brock Nelson was doing a really good job of shutting that line down generally. And I think, you know, that goes back to the top six conversation of keeping Minnesota's hands full. Brock Nelson is certainly a part of that.

Well, especially game four when I felt this series started to shift in terms of the gap between the two teams. It wasn't reflected on the scoreboard, right? Game three or game four was very tight. It was a tie game in the back half of the third period. And then obviously the wild were up three nothing in game four. But even by my scoring chances, the first three games were very even between the two teams. And then the Aves started to really assert themselves with their team speed and the forecheck that won them game four. and in the process, I think you're all got out attempted like 21-0 or something in game 4F515.

And so that's a great point by you in terms of the job that line did, I think, forcing John Hines' hands to try something. And then ultimately that not really doing the job, at least offensively for them. Let's talk Kyle McCar a little bit. And his health and where we're at, I think the time off between series is certainly going to help. This does feel like, especially if you trace it back to that injury that he suffered. near the end of the regular season against the flames, probably something you're going to have to manage throughout in a couple days off

or are necessarily going to be the quick fix that you're hoping for. I don't know if you have anything on that in terms of the injury itself. You know, I've seen speculation like kind of nursing a potentially separated shoulder or something in the upper body, which makes sense if you look at particularly when he leaves game five off a very innocuous or incidental.

contact with Matt Zuccarello where it doesn't look like much and he's immediately kind of favoring that shoulder and then maybe speaking to some of the the shooting stuff as well. I know he scores the two goals in game one and looked awesome. I was noting in the King series how much of a threat he looked like once again after a relatively quiet regular season, kind of seeking out those shot opportunities, attacking downhill and really testing the opposing goalie. As this series progressed, part of it was the while did a really good job of stuffing out some of those chances with getting in the lanes and not allowing them to get on net. But there even was that one play I can recall in game five where in the second period he gets it off a cycle is working down the right dot and tries to pass it off into traffic instead instead of actually putting it on net. And I do wonder about plays like that and sort of what this looks like moving forward because he leaves two of these games early with injury ultimately comes back.

but certainly didn't, you know, play the role that you would have expected offensively as a result of that, I think. Yeah, it's a tough but very real conversation coming out of the series because there is a stark contrast from even Kelmacar in the L.A. series who was making that similar play driving to the bottom of the right circle and taking the shot versus deferring to the pass option in this series on the play that you're referencing. And I also have reason to believe it's related to shoulder, which will absolutely have an impact then on shot quality and even the interest in shooting. And I think that's why you see by committee guys like Brent Burns start to really lean on that shot initiative. Because I think that in losing Winski another player who has a great shooting mentality, it just wasn't a decor that was operating at a hospital. 100% with respect to that in not having Malinski and also having Kilmacar not at 100%. I think that's why you saw Brent Burns try to step up to the plate to alleviate some of that. And it's tough because not so different from Quinn Hughes,

Kilmacar plays big minutes. And thankfully, they're able to redistribute some of his PK time among some of the trusted D. I know you have Brett Kulak kind of in that list somewhere. And what a huge moment for him. right with the serious clinching goal, but you're absolutely right that the status of Cal McCarr for the Western Conference final. It's like that war of attrition is starting to wear on guys. Jared Bednar has alluded to even more injuries beyond what we know Cal McCar is battling

through for the team. I mean, it's not only the PK stuff. I don't know if you noticed this, but part of it is McCarr missed, you know, a good chunk of two games essentially in leaving and then coming back, but there's that. They lose Balinski after game three, and Brett Kulak is second on the team and 5-on-5 usage as well, overall behind just Devon Taves and looked awesome doing so, and then caps it off with the winner, and that's why, you know, coming out of this series,

I know there's like kind of this referendum because it's confirmation bias for the Wilds team build in the aftermath of it, like building a team around your wingers and defensemen the way they did, and especially with the center depth, the aves have where you have Nick Wah playing on the wing, even though he's a perfectly competent and quite strong third center potentially. They don't need to use him as such.

And Minnesota, on the other hand, especially after losing Ericksonek, is very thin there. And it would have helped to not only have Ericksonek, but someone else available. I'm not sure, though, in watching this series and some of the issues for the wild that a Vincent Trojek or Powell, Zaka, or whatever center you want to place there

was the gap between these two teams. For me, if anything, it was all the other stuff, right? like the wild were using, I think five wingers who were 35 years or older in this series. The defensemen, especially after Brodeen was unavailable, like bumping Middleton up the lineup was a disaster for them. They tried to get away from it and play Damon Hunt there instead at home, but then put him back with Spurgeon for game five. And those guys wind up on the ice for nine of the 13, five on five goals. The aves scored. And on the other hand, you have the abs who McCar is clearly not himself.

if Malinsky misses the games, and then you just get Brett Kulak stepping up and playing a bigger role. You get Brent Burns playing an awesome couple of games. And to me, like, if anything, ironically, those things were probably the bigger difference as opposed to issues down the middle for the wild. I think so too. You know, ahead of the series, there's so much discussion about how similarly these teams stacked up on the forward side and on the back end. And I didn't necessarily disagree, but not having Brodine death.

definitely added a different layer for how Minnesota's back end comes together, because I have a lot of respect for Spurgeon as a player, but he is at a different point in his career. You know, and so I think his efficacy alongside Middleton is showing their age a little bit, whereas I think that the abs, especially when they did have Malinsky available, had something different. and maybe not the same size and heaviness, but the speed, the team speed is ultimately

where I think the aves could leverage that deeper in their lineup and why even fourth line to fourth line, those lines are built kind of differently and the speed of the fourth line, I think, was ultimately what gave them an edge when this was all set and done. Let's look ahead up a little bit. Have you had a chance to? I know it's a pretty quick turnaround,

the Golden Knights defeat the Ducks in six on Thursday night to set up a Western Conference final between these two teams. Have you had a chance to kind of think about what you're looking for in that matchup, potentially exploitable areas, or kind of just in general, the most interesting storylines for yourself? Yeah, I think it's going to play out, it's a combination of both the LA and the Minnesota series

in that I think that the depth of Vegas is something that I will never underestimate as being a challenge. So I do think that Colorado's depth really stepped up against Minnesota, but there will be really bigger tests, especially right in the middle of the lineup. I think that the production that Vegas is getting from their second line is something that looking at maybe a lack of production from Brock Nelson, I'll want to see that offensive impact a little bit more from him.

In addition to everything he's doing so well to contain his matchups, I think that's got a breakthrough a little bit here. And then I think, you know, back end to back end, I still give Colorado a little bit of an edge with the skill upside, but I think that it's going to be like Minnesota, a fight to create the opportunities, the looks that they want. Yeah, I think that's a great point. I mean, I was thinking about the Golden Knights did to get to this point,

go through two very fast teams in the mammoth and the ducks. But I think those teams are a bit more one-dimensional offensively in terms of attacking and transition, but not having as much substance behind it. And that's where I think what we saw from the abs, you know, in stretches during the King series, but certainly in games four and five of the Wild series in terms of the four check and, you know, establishing that offensive zone possession time and cycling the puck and winning battles in front of the net, that probably will be the most interesting battleground in this series because the Golden Knights haven't necessarily had a reason to face that yet. And then, you know, I think another fun test is going to be this Aves power play, which

really has kind of gotten it together as the postseason has gone on and carried them for a stretch of that Wild series while the 5-on-5 offense wasn't there in the middle of it against this Golden Knights PK, which is pretty much breaking even this postseason and scoring a ton of short-handed goals and doing a great job of limiting your opportunities. I think that'll be a really nice sort of litmus test, I guess, for how far the abs power play has come and some of the stuff they've been running with the New Look formation, whether it's legit and whether they're able to create a couple extra goals there. Yeah.

Out of respect to Vegas, I think, you know, some of the rush chances they're able to create in weaknesses of, say, Anaheim's defense, just in watching the game last night, for example, I don't think they will have as many of those opportunities. And so kind of like the conversation around the Dallas. stars relying on their power play to create opportunities, but not having the 5B5 details. I think that Vegas is going to have to dig in to get their offensive opportunities a little bit more because of how good defensively the Colorado avalanche are.

Yeah, I mean, the Marner goal in that game six was obviously just a great individual play by him, but there was one a couple minutes later where I forget who passed it, but it was like Noah Hannafin just sprinting down the middle of the ice and was wide open for a great opportunity and I was like I don't you know this have seemed that pride itself so much on on the backtracking and back checking from pretty much every line I don't think those opportunities are going to be as as abundantly available but we'll see how it plays out it should be a fun one you know they played three head to head games and they were all close in the regular season the two most recent ones in particular I remember one in Vegas was around the holidays and it really felt

like the Sammolinsky coming out party where the abs just leaned on him and he was out there three on three with McKinnon and really played a huge game. And so that was a fun one. And then they played a more recent one in Colorado that Vegas won in overtime. But it was just a really fun stylistic matchup. So I think all the intricacies between these two teams are going to make it a really fun West Final, I think. I think so too, especially just Vegas is built for playoffs in part because of their depth

and just the maturity of the group. So that is something that should be a really good and competitive matchup for this conference final. I agree. All right, Megan. Well, that was awesome. I'm glad we got to catch up. And whether it's in the West final or potentially a Stanley Cup final for the abs, I'm sure we're going to get you back on it sometime this postseason

and keep the good times going. What do you want to promote on the way out? I'm Megan Angley at Gorilla Sports, and you can find a lot of my work on Twitter slash X at Meg Angley. And yeah, thank you guys for listening. Awesome. Well, keep up the great work. We've been really enjoying your coverage of this playoff run and looking forward to having you back on. If you enjoy today's show, give us a five-star review wherever you listen. Subscribe to the Patreon as well. We're going to have breakdowns of every round two series in the newsletter by early next week, hopefully before the conference finals start and identify some of the stuff to look for in the upcoming matchups. And that is all for another week of shows from us.

Have a great weekend. And thank you for listening to the Hockey, Kodakest streaming on the SportsNet Radio Network.