The Hockey PDOcast - Post Game Reactions and Takeaways Following Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance to break down everything they saw in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, how the Panthers won decisively with a 6-1 final score, and what the Oilers need to do differently heading into Game 4. 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 PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovic. Welcome to the Hockey PEDOCast. My name is Dmitra Filippovich and joining me for our game three post-game show, the Stanley Cup final. We just watched Game 3 here on Monday evening. It wrapped up. We're recording right after the final buzzer. My good buddy doing all these with me, Thomas Trans. Tom, what's going on, man? Wasn't much of a game so much as it was a novel. And I'm talking, of course, about the penalty summary and solely the third period. Just a thorough sunning of the Edmonton Oilers by the Florida Panthers on their home ice. Beat them in the alley, beat them on the scoreboard in lopsided fashion. Stuart Skinner is now a big story in this series. Verhege and Reinhardt made their shots. I mean, what else can you say about

it? The Panthers looked like they broke the Oilers tonight. And I don't think they did. I don't think they won the series. I don't think it's over by any stretch of the magic. but, you know, it has, it has the feeling like of Alcaraz versus Sinner, where, you know, you're a point away from, from Matchpoint and he's covered in clay on Saturday. And it's like, you know, there's still a path here for the Oilers, but they cannot have another performance that even looks like that or approximates it in terms of the level of discipline that they bring or or how permissive they are off the rush, um,

how unfocused they look on the power play. I mean, that was a complete dismantling by the Florida Panthers this evening. Yeah, especially running in contrast to the first two games of this series. We watched that obviously both feature overtime, a bunch of extra hockey were very tightly played and back and forth. The Panthers led this one for what,

roughly 59 minutes or so after Marshan's first goal. Yeah. Right out of the gate. And then yeah, we probably could have used a running clock for the third period because that felt like it probably took 15 or 20 minutes longer than it needed to. It wasn't hockey. NHL.com gave up on it at some point because I was like refreshing it just to get a final

tally of what the penalty minute count was. And at some point they just stopped updating it. Right now they have it at 140. I feel like it might even be higher than that, but that gives you a good feel for this. I mean, they were only, you know, we're going to cite some 5-on-5 metrics in this game, especially when we can do our hard match segment that we've been doing during these post-game shows, just for context. though there were 33 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey played in this game.

So obviously just a fraction of what you typically expect in a playoff game. But we're going to work through it and kind of get into, I guess, dissecting how it unfolded. We'll work through it hopefully more successfully than the Oilers did. Yes, certainly. Do I want to start off with our categories? I feel like those have been fun. It's probably the best way to keep us on track here over the next 50 minutes. Let's start off with the PDOCAST 3 stars.

I haven't to keep up with the running bit, I haven't checked them yet. I will after I go through mine. I have number two and three interchangeable here, and you reference both guys right off the bat. I've got Ryan Hart as my third star and for Hagee as my second star. They wind up with pretty much identical stat lines here today. They both score a goal in the second period, or I guess for Higgy scored in the first,

but they both scored while the game was still. in the balance early on. They both have a primary assist. For Hagee has seven shot attempts. Reinhardt has five. And I guess I have Reinhardt as my third and Verhagie slightly ahead as the second because early on Matthew Kichuk on the power play

sets up that backdoor look for Reinhardt and Stuart Skinner's beat. And he kind of flubs the redirect, misses the net with it. And I was like, all right, here we go again. This was a major theme for us coming out of game two. And then obviously a tones for it

with a really beautiful Shaw Barron in. that was a bit of a backbreaker for the Oilers in the second period but both guys that is a big story here right just the Panthers amidst all the chaos and everything getting a lot of the same looks they got in the first two games from their top players

but finally executing on them and the Brahegey shot was picture perfect right there's like this tight little window above Skinner's shoulder on that downhill wrister on the power play just under the bar he nails it perfectly Ryan Hart similarly going short side, barred in off a turnover by Klingberg along the wall.

And we knew, I mean, we had a whole thing about it, right? The regression, the fact that a lot of these looks they were getting, weren't even registering on the stat sheet as shots on goal because they were just missing the net and not even testing Skinner. And the big difference here is that they had those same looks once again and they actually converted on them. And so they get those guys going and that's a big deal here. I mean, Barkov doesn't even necessarily register on the stat sheet

from a scoring perspective amongst those. those plays, although you could argue, I know that Klingberg bumps into the linesman, kind of moving the puck up the wall on that Reinhardt goal, but that was a lot of the legwork in typical fashion. It was done by Barkoff, hounding him behind the net. Even if the Lionsman wasn't there, I'm not sure what Klingberg could have done with the puck because he was quickly running out of real estate and Barkov was all over him, but he forces that turn over. Higgy steps in, sets up Reinhardt. And so that line getting going, finally getting on the stat sheet, scoring some goals, I thought is a massive development for the Panthers.

those to be expected because those guys are obviously talented shooters and we've seen them score a bunch of big goals in the past, but they've been very inefficient as shooters this postseason and they finally got going. And that's why I got them here on my star sheet. Yeah, and we talked about it after game two. The idea that what they were trying wasn't working and that eventually if they continued to play the way they were, it would.

And it did in bunches and broke the game open. You know, that that Reinhart goal really to settle this one down after the Oilers got on the scoreboard early in the second period with what I thought was a bit of a gift of a power play opportunity. I thought the Oilers were full value for the even up call as the second period expired. But the Oilers ended up with the power play. Then they trotted out no Ryan Nugent Hopkins on PP1. It's like the wrong PP1 made the personnel adjustment in this game, which we can get into a little bit more because, you know, for Hagee scoring for Panthers, PP2. which continues to look super dangerous,

another really strong Nate Schmidt game. And so, yeah, I mean, you get the bounce in the first minute, which kind of sets the tone. You get Reinhart and Verhegey bumping into some of the regression that it felt like they were due given the quality of their looks and the posity of their results. And then, you know, you get another big rush breakdown. And we can get into the Sam Bennett factor here a little bit later.

But, you know, that's kind of it. Oilers just buried under a deluge of frustration in Panthers pressure in similar fashion to what we saw, you know, happened to Carolina and happened to Rod Brindamore who looked like he was struggling with the stress of it all in the conference final. And, you know, likewise, we saw it happen to Toronto. And I mean, this is what the Panthers do. They do it better than anybody else. And this was just like a perfect, you know, like, you know, I wonder what break first sort of bane moment, right? Like your spirit or your body, right?

Like that was what the Panthers did to the Oilers this evening. I guess we can't have it both ways. You mentioned the adjustment from the shooters and both those goals, those guys scored were such perfectly play shot on the margins on those are so low, right? And it's like, it's not like they were necessarily kind of just throwing muffins on net and they got through Stuart Skinner. Like both were absolute bulls, the Berhegey one in particular.

And we've seen a lot of those. and I've brought it up every step of the way on the powerplay, cutting it so close, and then often missing the net and it clearing the zone and really just alleviating a lot of the powerplay pressure on that one, he buries it. And when it happens, you're excited about it when it doesn't. You're like, oh, man, I wish he had at least hit the net.

And I guess you can't have it both ways because the reason why he's going for that is so he can score goals like that. The playmaking from those guys as well, right? The Reinhardt power play set up in the third where, and you were noting this in our text while we were watching throughout, The Panthers were really making a big point of getting the puck below the goal line and trying to operate from Gretzky's office there and trying to get it out front.

Yeah, Sheifley style. Yeah, in the first period, they had a ton of looks there, and the Oilers defense was holding up pretty well and kind of getting in the way or either blocking the slot shot or knocking away before he could get to its intended target. But they were clearly trying to execute that game plan. And the Ryanhard had that beautiful pass from kind of the slot, no look behind, backhand to Ekblad for essentially an Aleut. and then the Verhegey pass.

He had one in the first period as well, right? Like where Gus Forcing just sprints up the ice when he sees the puck on the wall and Kachuk has it. It gets to Verhege. He springs them and it was a nice little redirect and Skinner was able to get a pat on it. But those guys were moving the puck brilliantly

and it paid off for them here. The first star has to be Sam Bennett, right? And maybe that's the fastball moment of the game as well. I've got another fastball moment of the game. I've got, I thought long and hard about it for today. So that's not mine, but I think it's a good pick. Okay, well, I'll give you that as mine,

and I'm going to lump those two together here because that sequence he had in the second period where Dreisel gets his own entry, he dumps it off to Pocles in, put Colson, drops it off, and then he looks up and all of a sudden, Sam Bennett is just a heat seeking missile coming at him. He completely goes through him as if he wasn't there,

and it was just a brutal shift for Pocleson, who had a really tough game. I believe he was on the low end of a lot of the 5-1-5 metrics for the Oilers here in that limited time, then he gets the puck back. He turns it over to Lus Treenen, who was at the end of his shift. At the blue line, he bumps it forward for Bennett, and he makes a nice move on Skinner,

and then roofs it on the breakaway, it scores another goal. And that was just a dominant shift on his part. He also had a downhill wrister on the power play early in the third that he'd rang off the bar to go along with the theme of panther shooters really feeling it and picking their spots in this game. And I mean, he's been doing it all postseason, all series, but I really thought that that shift was just an absolutely monster performance by Bennett. And I'm giving him the first star here.

How do you feel about those three stars? I believe I'm looking at it now. The NHL official stat page also had Bennett as the first star. And this one, they had Bobrovsky as one of the three stars as well. And, you know, he wasn't tested. In the third period, the Oilers didn't have a single scoring chance. They were just in the PK the entire time. And the second period, they only had three by my account.

But in the first period, especially that one Oilers Power Player, where he makes the save off of McDonough. David the rebound from R&H, then Bouchard had one from the middle of the ice. I feel like that sequence was a massive one for Bavrovsky. And so I'm fine with it. He only gives up the one goal here. It has another good game. But I thought those three Panthers forwards really stuck out to me in terms of how

much they were creating in this one. So sorry, I've got on the official stat sheet for Hagee and then Reinhart and then Bobowski. I have Bennett excluded. I agree with you. That's ridiculous. Yeah. I mean, the truth is too, is like I'll give you a few money.

for fastball of the moment of the game shortly, but I think we should discuss that Bennett shift in wider context because, you know, the amount of just horrifying visuals from the perspective of the Oilers that come out of this game tonight, I think is worth just kind of enumerating. I mean, you've got the, you know,

looking like he should be named Viking Stad, tongue out visuals of Jonah Gajovich, multiple occasions after post-wistle fracuses. You have, I mean, Sam Bennett putting a massive hit on Vasily Podgolson, who's got to be the widest human being in this series, then puts another licking on John Klingberg, and then scores on the breakaway going the other way. I mean, you can't get a more decisive flex.

You had the line brawl in which the Panthers appeared to have won every single fight in the line brawl. Just the sheer volume of like visuals that captured, not just the Oilers' frustration, but the genuine dominance exhibited by the Panthers in this game, I think was, you know, really telling and adds to the hurt, the sense of panic that I'm sure Oilers fans feel. I doubt the Oilers feel that similar sense of panic,

but I mean, design a game that goes worse for them, including the fact that we've got 48 hours now of who's Noblock going to start speculation after Skinner had been, you know, pretty good in the first two games of this series, I thought, like completely serviceable. But now that now there's a leak springing in the Oilers rush defense in particular. And that's where, you know, this series is really starting to look a lot different than, for example, the Dallas series where, you know, I mean, what? The Panthers have like seven breakways across the last three games. It feels like they're scoring on most of them.

Five of seven, I think, was, was the stat that Woodley shared with me during the game. You know, you think that back to the Marchand Shorty, the obviously the Marchand overtime winner. And then that, that Bennett goal too, where that's a four one goal. Like the reason it devolves into this side show that we witnessed in the third period is because of that goal. That, you know, Skinner makes that stop. And I'm not saying you should have.

It was a great move by Bennett, like a fabulous goal. maybe adds 2 million to his A.A.V. For all, you know, given how impressive that sequence was. But, you know, if that's not a goal or if that moment doesn't occur, but Colson just puts the puck down low, gets it by the first defender, you know, that's probably a game for at least another few minutes, although Florida's dominance of the second period may have eventually overwhelmed the Oilers. Nonetheless, okay, so really quickly, I don't think we should solely focus on the game

within a game, psychological torture chamber that the Panthers were able to put the Oilers in solely and ignore, in my view anyway, like the fundamental reasons for this lopsided result, hockey-wise, and I think there's two, two principal ones. One is I think the Oilers rush defense has sprung a leak and needs to be better. Skinner's not playing at a high enough level for the Oilers to be defending this well, period. It's not blaming Skinner and it's not letting Skinner off the hook to blame the defense. Skinner hasn't been good. The Oilers defense hasn't been good enough.

If that doesn't get fixed, the Oilers are going to be really on the ropes at some point this week. And then the other part is, and this is going to be my fastball moment of the game, I think that penalty kill that you got late in the first. And what? I think it was, I think it was still won nothing.

This was before the Verhegey 2-0 goal, but the Oilers have that extended penalty kill sequence, or sorry power play sequence and forsling has you know ties up parry down low right ties up r and h basically completely kills um these two sequences he's doing it by the way while mac david despite not being rewarded for it is like first to every puck against barkoff is like putting barkov under duress is like getting kind of much of what he wants at that half wall dancing barkov uh the best defensive player forward in the world um and then you know, to sort of put the cherry on top of it,

he knocks away and sort of harpoon sticks away that cross-scene feed. Yeah, exactly. You know exactly the plan I'm talking about. And it's just like that, that to me, you know, we saw in game one what it looked like when the Panthers, you know, struggled a bit. And it looked like

Forzling and Eckblad really getting it fed to them. And they've stabilized in games two and three. Tonight, I thought, was their best game as a pair. We saw some more you know, forsling stick on puck game, frustrating McDavid through the neutral zone on various entry attempts.

And I just think in terms of quieting the Oilers big guns, which I don't think we can ignore as as kind of a key tonight. You know, we've seen this Oilers team put up crooked numbers against a lot of teams and come back from various leads and claw back from a 3-1 lead.

So I think the, the extent to which the Panthers defense played tonight and frustrated the Oilers, I think needs to be, sort of shouted out and really sort of looked at as being decisive in this one. And for me, Forzling on that PK sequence, when it's still a one-nothing game,

that to me was my fastball moment of the night anyway. Yeah, that was a monster penalty kill sequence by a foursling. I thought that play he made in particular, tying up both those guys, Perry and R&H in front was huge because we know how they feasted on a lot of those rebounds throughout this postseason, but then also just sitting on the,

just the recognition that that McDavid Pass is going on Dreis Eidel and being perfectly placed to break that. that up was huge. I mean, there was that play that you referenced in the second period as well, where McDavid, one of the few times in this game, he was able to get a full head of steam in the neutral zone. And we reference a similar playing game too, where Forzing does such a good job of keeping him to the outside. McDavid tries to cut it in, and Forslings all over it, gets a stick on it and breaks it up. He's somehow the fifth highest paid defenseman in this series. And he has been absolutely phenomenal these past two games. Even Aaron Eckblatt had that.

moment in the second period where McDavid tried to do it all himself and he stood him up at the blue line and got a piece of him and McDavid left the game for a bed, was fortunately able to come back. But I thought the job they did on McDavid and Dreis Heidel here talking about there was immense, right? Dreis He

placed 2027 in this game. He finishes with zero shot attempts. I went through his game logs. This was his 90th game of the season combining the regular season in playoffs the first time all year. He hasn't registered a single shot attempt. McDavid had just two shot attempts. In 2015, I thought McDavid early on, it seemed like he was going to build on what he did the first two games, right?

I thought it was one of the first shifts of the night where R&H kind of ties up Barkov in the neutral zone. McDavid gets it. He spins off of Eckblad, sends a cross-ice to Perry for a nice little rush chance. But beyond that, he just was not able to shake free. Neither was Dreisdell. They were all over them. I thought the defensive game plan and execution was very diligent from Florida, as you'd expect with them at home. to control some of these matchups.

And, you know, I say that Dreisel had no shot attempts. I do want to highlight the one goal, the one bright spot for the Oilers in this game, was that power play goal early in the second period. And the entire first, much like the rest of this series, has been a heavy dose of Bouchard shots, right? And I think he finishes with 14 shot attempts again in this game. Six or seven of them were in the first alone. And he did a really good job of selling that and passing a download of Perry who was able to tuck in a power play goal by Bobrovsky, the reason why that happens, you go back and look at it.

Mikaela just does not want to leave Dricidal hanging out in his spot at the right circle and that creates that space for Perry. So zero shot attempts. I think just the threat of his shot helped create that. It's almost like a gravity that you see in basketball with a three-point shooter where the defender doesn't want to leave him and it creates space in the paint for someone to finish down low with an easy look.

But he still just had no real space to actually get anything off the entire game and the credit has to go to the Panthers for the way they, I think they defended those two guys. Yeah, they were, they were completely oppressive this evening. And as much as we're going to look at, you know, all the antics and all the cynicism and all the, you know, beat asses that the Panthers handed out in game three,

I don't think we should lose sight of just how smothering they were. And that that was really, in my view anyway, kind of the like building block of what was their most dominant performance in the playoffs so far and certainly the worst Oilers performance we've seen since, since L.A. And by the way, I actually think there's something to take from that. Like I saw my athletic colleague Pierre LeBron note that, for example, like this, this looks like the Oilers looked against L.A. And I actually thought that's instructive because it's the quality of the chances.

It's the fact that like L.A. was gutting them off the rush in a way that Dallas never did. Dallas never got out and galloped against this Oilers team, even if they were able to sort of generate and look intentional and dynamic down low. I think similar with Vegas, except, you know, Vegas might have had even less than Dallas did, despite the fact that Dallas sort of was dispatched in fewer total games. And so, you know, I think that's a key here. Like for the first time since L.A.,

we're seeing this Oilers defense, whether it's through puck management or through turnovers, failing to break the forecheck. I think we're seeing them give up too many chances off the rush. And when that happens, that's when Stuart Skinner can start to look vulnerable. And it's also why I could see, you know, this being a switch to Calvin Pickard game in game four, you know, do it before you're desperate in some ways. But also because, I mean, if Noblock wants to make sure his group defends an awful lot better than they have, we know that the Oilers dial it up when Pickard comes in.

like we see that every time out. It's sort of a routine message sent at this point for this team in the playoffs. It's happened three times across the last few years. And the response has always been the same. And for whatever reason, too, Skinner doesn't seem to have his confidence thrashed by losing his net for a spell. So, you know, I really do think we're going to hear a lot of discussion about who the Oilers should start in game four over the next few days.

And I think we should. I think it's actually a really interesting decision. And less because Skinner. struggled, although he did, and more so because I think the defense in front of him, like, I think there's an element to which I won't be shocked if Naublock wants to, you know, give his team something of a message or a boot here. That's fair, although I will say I felt like that that poll in the third period was more so about a mercy poll than anything, but I'm with you in terms of trying to change something up.

You know, I'm not like blaming Skinner by any means. Of course. It's, we know who he is. He's, he's totally serviceable if the game you're playing in front of him is tight. The way the Oilers are playing right now. And I think, you know, really across this series so far, in spurts, they've been fine. But it really came undone tonight. And I think it came undone in sections two of game two.

It's just that, again, Reinhart and Verhege and company weren't making their shots. So we didn't notice it. One final note, I'm Bennett here as my first star. I think his acceleration right now and some of those middle lane drives are just so disruptive. I think it's very easy to get fixated and all the shenanigans, net front, crease and everything involving the goalies. But just the way he's moving right now is creating a lot of those issues for the Oilers D that you're talking about. Even in the first period, it didn't lead to anything because Walman had a nice little stick to break it up. But he was flying for a potential break away and Walman was able to kind of cut it off in the last second.

And maybe this is a good segue up for us to get into the hard match. And I've got a lot of notes on this. But it kind of went the way we thought, right? There's, as I said, only 33, 5.15 minutes total in this game. But in the 9 5.15 minutes Bennett played, the Panthers at a 94% expected goal share. And a reason for that is because you look at who he was playing against. And his top opponents were Arvinson and Kane up front. And then the Walman-Kulak pair, there was only one minute against McDavid.

and we were kind of noting how in the first two, we were actually seeing a pretty heavy dose of that, as you would have expected, with the Oilers getting to dictate matchups a little bit. And so from the X's kind of head-to-head perspective, I thought that Paul Maurice and the Panthers were able to do what they wanted here as well, and obviously we'll have a chance to replicate that again in game four, but basically they just got that Bennett line out in the minutes where they really could cook,

and that's exactly what they did. And I think that's a big reason why they were able to create as much as they did in those limited five-on-five opportunities. communities. Yeah. And, you know, there was no matchups that were all that hard because, what, you can throw 40% of this game kind of in the dustbin in terms of it having meaningful value. But I think you're right, you know, almost an inverse of what we sort of expected with sort of

the Bennett line in the role of the McDavid line, sort of torching the soft underbelly of the oilers lineup. Bennett's, you know, when we talk about like offensive value and offensive contributions and when we talk about Sam Bennett and the concept of offense, you know, his limitations have often been at the forefront of our analysis. And not just us, but a lot of people who talk about hockey or watch hockey a lot and, you know, 51 points as a career high this year. And, you know, you're going to hear a lot about that once this series is over. And, you know, the hockey commentariat and hockey fans

start turning their attention to July 1 and some of the valuations that we're going to see. but when you look at what Bennett's been able to do driving through the neutral zone and as sort of probably the most dynamic and frequent neutral zone puck carrier on this team, you know, his offensive value very clearly exceeds point totals at the moment. I think that's worth keeping in mind in sort of analyzing him as a player. You know, I still think he's best paired with an elite playmaker on his wing and he's been fortunate in Florida that he's kind of always had one, whether it was Hubert O or or now Kachuk, but I don't think we should ignore either.

Like the stuff that he can do as a puck carrier, whether or not he's getting credit for points as a result of it, I think it's essential. Like I think it's absolutely essential to what this Panthers team does offensively. His sort of skill in that, his facility in that area or faculty in that area. Certainly is. All right, Tom, let's take our break here. And then we come back, we will jump right back into it and close out our game three

post game show. you're listening to the Hockey P.D.Ocast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network. All right, we're back here on the Hockeyedogast doing our postgame show for Game Through the Stanley Cup final time. Before we went to break, we got into our hard match category. We talked a little bit about in the time we did see 5-1-5 action in this game, sparsely mixed in. Some of the stuff we saw there, obviously a ton of special teams. And we can talk a lot about that here because, you know, early on the Panthers had a bunch of powerplay opportunities. they were sending PP1 out there, as you'd expect, they weren't really able to generate much.

And then the two-nothing goal comes out of that Bahrakei shot. But I thought it was notable that it's just this very smart play from Schmidt at the point instead of rushing or forcing a shot. He gets it into the middle of the ice to Rodriguez. He bumps it off to a Buraki and then he can execute that downhill rister. And I was thinking about this, because Marshand has certainly been electric in this series. After he scored the one-nothing goal here, that had been three straight goals, he'd scored for the Panthers dating back to game two. And I was thinking, I was like, man, I think I feel like the most dangerous offensive players for the Panthers in this series to date have been Marshaun, have been Bennett, and then honestly Nate Schmidt with the way he's been moving the puck and decision-making. There's got to be no question that it's Nate Schmidt.

And none of those guys are on PP1, of course. And yet, PP2 is cooking that way. I know PP1 for the Panthers finally wound up scoring that Eqblad goal to make a 5-1 in the third to finally pull Skinner. what we've seen in this series, maybe this one is a bit of an aberration because obviously the third period had all sorts of shenanigans and all the power plays you could ever ask for. But we've seen, and I want to get your take on this, the officiating from a game management perspective early on because all three of these games so far have been littered with powerplay opportunities going on both sides in the first period in particular.

And I'm of two minds of it because I firmly believe that you've got to call some of this stuff early on just because we've seen that especially involving these two teams, if you don't and you let it go, it's just going to escalate to the point where there's just going to be increasingly egregious obstruction and interference that's ruining the game and then obviously late hits and all that stuff that ensues. And this doesn't preclude you from it. But what it does is unfortunately it makes the product very choppy. It's certainly not as fun to watch with all these breaks in between. And so I'm not sure there's a fix for it because the way these two teams are pushing the envelope right now and the Panthers in particular, this is their calculus, right? They're

going to try to drag you in this type of game. They're very comfortable with a high penalty affair. They're begging the fact that you're not going to call everything. And so these first periods have just been an entire penalty fest, right? And so I imagine that's going to continue as this series progresses. It'll probably be the same again in game four. If that's going to continue, I feel like the Panthers really, it didn't matter in this game, certainly. But figuring out how to get the most out of those power plays is going to be an interesting development to see if Paul Maris actually does something there, he probably won't because he's been very steadfast in the way he's using these guys on the other end.

Interestingly enough, we actually saw the oilers make a power play adjustment where they were using a second defenseman out there, whether it was at home or Walman. And I don't know if they were just spooked by that Marsh and short-handed goal in game two or what the logic was for it, but we saw them doing that. And so it's kind of ironic to me that they were the one that made the power play change because I'd argue that the Panthers were in desperate need of it,

but they get a couple of power play goals here ultimately. I think they had 10 opportunities that that first unit had a lot of reps to work out whatever kinks they have in it right now. So, uh, well, and then they scored an absolute beauty. Yes, right? Like it wasn't just,

I mean, they've looked, they've looked hop gun all series. And then when they finally score, was it a 5-1 goal? It was just like the crispest passing you're going to see. Yeah, it was as good as it gets. No, I mean, Nate Schmidt, the distributor.

It's really becoming, I think, a storyline in this series. He's been, especially with Kachuk and Barkoff, not exactly lighting the score sheet of blaze. I mean, Nate Schmidt's been a key source of timely offense and that second power play unit. I mean, that was a huge goal that Berhegey scored. was a result of what, three or four really nice plays, moving the puck sort of east-west and back again

to set up that Verhegey shot, which was perfectly executed. I mean, figuring out how to get some of the guys with a little more jump on the Panthers' first power play unit, I think makes a ton of sense. As for the Oilers change, so that was after the first period, they came back out with the two defensemen look,

but they still were playing Ryan Nugent Hopkins. So I don't think it was connected necessarily. to his sort of uncertain status leading up to this game, right? Like, we don't buy that it, that that was in any sort of consideration. It's still a two, nothing game. Like, it's still a two goal game when they make the switch. It kind of, it kind of looked like it worked a little bit in that sort of a two defenseman look, maybe a little bit more of a spread formation.

You've still got dry saddle in his spot. They're still going to front dry saddle on that spot. but Bouchard, making Bouchard's shot the focus of the Oilers power play did seem to draw a lot of attention from Panthers penalty killers up high and obviously created, you know, a lot of space for Perry to get that 2-1 goal to briefly make this interesting before the Panthers answered what 90, it felt like 90 seconds later. Maybe that's just in the overall context of this game. Yeah, less even. So, yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't. I like, put it this way. It's one of those adjustments that I actually thought worked and paid off in the moment, but I'm deeply uninterested in seeing carry over into future games here. Yeah.

And that's a, I mean, the Oilers defensemen, the usage of them is a big theme here as well, right? Because in the first two games and Corey Schneider put out the tracking data from those two, it wouldn't surprise anyone that's watched these two teams and watch those games, but it was quite a lopsided amount of botch retrievals. for the Oilers defensemen and that leading to a bunch of turnover chances for the Panthers. And we had a lot of questions about whether the Oilers would be able to continue the success. They'd really enjoyed with this new look D on their way through the Western Conference portion of the bracket. And then the first shift of Nurse and Klingberg being put together.

And I understand the theory behind it of Nurse being much more comfortable playing with a natural righty. And so they put Klingberg with them. And then unfortunately on a D zone draw, Lundell gets it out front. it takes a bit of a weird bounce, but Klingberg loses Marchand in front of the net. Nurse winds up standing facing the wrong way in front of Skinner, and it winds up resulting in a very easy, essentially empty net goal where Marchand does shoot it through Kappanin's legs,

but he's able to bury it. And Walman had quite an interesting game in this one. It seemed like he was engaging in a ton of post-wistle shenanigans and was very interested in that component of the game. I'm curious to see what they do. coming out of this one because it feels like a lot of these guys, aside from Bluchard, have struggled with some of the dilemma, the Panthers, Forecheck puts you into. I don't think the Willers' forwards are necessarily making life easier for him because it doesn't,

to my eye, look like there's a lot of support down low, even on that Klingberg play where he runs into the linemen and Barkovs pressuring him. There's not a ton of avenues for him to actually explore, and he's kind of just keeps plowing ahead until he runs into contact. And so, you know, the minutes were ugly for Kulak and Wallman, Nerson Klingeberg had that really notable mistake that led to the early goal against. And that certainly changed the dynamic of this game. And so we'll see what they ultimately wind up doing with those pairs. But beyond Bouchard, it's been a struggle. And that shouldn't be necessarily a surprise because we know this is just an entirely different animal

in terms of the Panthers forecheck. But it's looked much different for the Oilers defensemen than it did in the first three rounds this postseason. Yeah, it has. It has for sure. And what options do they have? I mean, are you going to consider Troy Stetcher in this spot? That feels like an overreaction. Could you go 11-7 maybe? Do you go 11-7 just to give yourself some ability to maneuver in terms of limiting a guy if they're struggling or if they're getting told off by Brian Boucher for spraying a water bottle? you know, maybe. I mean, not a, it's at least worth a thought, but I don't think you take any of those guys out necessarily so much as maybe you shorten the leash by going 11-7. But there's not a lot of cards for Knoblock to play.

Like fundamentally, this defensive group just needs to handle the pressure better. They need to make more plays. You can see it on occasion. There was one sequence in the second period right before this got out of hand where it was darned, nurse who in moments in the first half of this game I actually thought had some really good aggressive moments down ice either like joining the forecheck playing beneath the goal line but also he had a moment where he sort of sidestepped the forecheck you know forward got a body on him

but only enough to knock him off stride and he was able to you know effectively have a controlled exit under his own power and the oilers just when you get that against this panthers team you are attacking vacant space. And I know I keep saying it when we do these shows, but I just see it every time I'm watching these games. I just think you have to be willing to avoid sort of doing the simple stuff against this panther team. You have to be on attack.

Otherwise, you're going to get bugged down and they're going to drive you completely batch the way they were, sorry, completely insane, in the way that they, I caught myself though. I caught myself. I kept my composure. You're a radio professional. I, but you're,

you know, you're going to lose yourself the way the Oilers did pretty impressively in game three. Yeah, I thought they certainly has some turnovers in the first two games at home. I did think that some of the promising sequences

and we kind of remarked on how Jake Wallman really had a standout game one in particular. Some of the stuff that Klingberg and Walman together can do in terms of flipping the side of the ice on some of these breakouts and kind of switching it over and playing amongst themselves and then getting it up the ice through the middle to a forward was interesting and they obviously went away from that in this one clingberg was on the ice for three of the five-on-five goals in just 11 minutes he made a couple nice plays i thought with the puck right in the first period during that what power player we were talking about

when it was still one nothing sets up henrike for a really nice one the bobrowski's able to read and get across on he he made a play in the neutral zone to set up or even a the offensive zone is set up, Cotter Brown, and he kind of lost control of the puck going around Bobrovsky, but I like what he can do with the puck and creating, but in their own zone, they're going to need to figure this out if it's going to be a different result. And I think it's in stark contrast to what you're seeing from Schmid and Kulikob

and Mekyllah and some of these Panthers' depth defensemen who aren't really having those similar issues, right? And that's been a big story through these three games for me. So we went through a lot of the themes, right? We went through the Panthers forward making their shots. We went through the Panthers D just defending McDavid and Dry Cytle, Dill and taking away their space.

The Edmonton defense struggling, the special team stuff. I think we got to get into the second periods, right? Because this is a continuation as well. I've got through three games, just in the second periods alone. Shots on goal, 39 to 22 Panthers. Scoring chances, 30 to 12

Panthers and goals are 5'2 now. And they're really swinging these games, either blowing them open or getting themselves back into it in these second periods in very in those isolated moments and that's another thing i think christoblock and the and the oilers are going to need to figure out with that long change and with some of these getting caught on these longer shifts and the panthers just kind of exerting their will on you and spending a minute and a half or two at a time just keeping you hemmed in the old zone i think that's been a big problem for the oilers here yeah and i i i mean three games in a row right like

through every, every game after the first period is, you know, interesting. I mean, the Oilers were not dead after the first period, starting the second down to nothing with a power play that they actually capitalize on. Like, they're not dead in that moment, but they certainly were at the end of the second period. And I mean, I don't feel like the, like, I feel like it's been sort of interesting. In game two, there were multiple moments. toward the end of the first period and then the first bit of the second, where it honestly felt like the Oilers had an opportunity to beat the wheels off them, right?

And kind of missed the opportunity in part because of poor finishing and in part because their power play couldn't get it done. The Panthers penalty kill came through. And then we saw it happen sort of as that second period went along and the Panthers took over that game and ultimately, you know, the Oilers needed a last minute goal and then lost an overtime. you know, the ability to close gaps and, and extend leads in that second period,

having that gear where you're getting two, you're going two for one. You're going two for one in zone time. You're going two for one in shots, two for one in scoring chances. And as you noted, better than two for one on the actual scoreboard, which,

and they're full value for it, right? It's five, two, and there's nothing unsustainable about it, unless the Oilers can figure out how to handle the stress game with the long change dynamic in that second period. man, if the Oilers can't fix that, there's really no way back. I don't think. There's no way through this series that doesn't involve the Oilers finding a way

to make the second period look an awful lot like, an awful lot more like the rest of the series. Certainly. I guess my one final note here, and we kind of, you know, have mixed it in throughout, but this felt like the Oilers kind of come and ungluid in. And ultimately, I think, silver lining for them as it counts is just one loss, right? And if you come back and you execute in game,

poor, you go back home in the spot you like where you have two of the final three games at home, certainly in a much better spot than they were this time last year. But I feel like there's fans that want to see when a team kind of tries to bully you like this. You want to see your team like respond, right? And like stand up for their guys. And I think that's fine. But you're not going to beat the Panthers at their game. And so I really would advise Doylers to try to.

stick to playing their game and executing. If you're going to lose doing so, that's one thing. But getting dragged into the mud like this and the way this game devolved, I think would be much more alarming. It is only the one game, as we said. So I think that's fine. But I'm very curious to see what the playing style is in game four and whether they're able to come out and just be much more composed

because it got away from them quickly here. And it really just spiraled completely out of control. Yeah, and I mean, they have to be. You know, I think one of the reasons that we've seen so many penalties in the first period, you know, not just that the referees are struggling to deal with the naked cynicism that both teams are expert level at. But we've seen it with like Corey Perry, we've seen it with the Vanderkane in multiple games, you know, and I don't know if it's message sending or lack of discipline or honestly, maybe struggling to handle the pace that the Panthers are occasionally able to bring.

But I feel like the parade of penalties has often been started by Kane or Perry specifically on the Oilers side and a penalty that no one could possibly like. It feels like that's generally been the like snowball that's begun moving down the hill that's then resulted in a special teams battle in the first stanza of games. I mean, they have to cut it out. Like, they have to cut it out. I don't even think they have an advantage there. I don't think it's helping the Oilers to have this game be decided at special teams. You know, with the way their power play has been good, but not great. Obviously, at one game one, and we know what they can do.

We know how high their level is. But, you know, I like, I think for the most part, they've handled and or at least played the Panthers, like, more or less to a, to a, to a, draw five on five. Maybe, maybe you like the quality that the Panthers are getting somewhat more. Second period. Certainly, I think the second, yeah, second period aside, you know, I feel like the turn turning this into a special team's matchup, I don't feel like that's an edge for the Oilers anyway. I think they're better off sort of playing it straight up. I also worry like a message sending third period like that for the Oilers. You know, what happens when you're up five one?

you know because i'll tell you who's going to be an awful lot better at a message sending third period than you are right it's it's the guys with sam bennett on their team yeah i mean the panthers can do this all night you mentioned our guy jona gadditch he seemed hell ben you know how um i'm sure like a lot of you know positive thinking and a manifestation in the locker room of like putting yourself in a spot where you want to be and where you want to be on the ice succeeding and i feel like Jonah Gadge of entered this one being like, I'm going to immortalize myself

as a meme on hockey Twitter tonight. And then every post whistle after the fight against Nurse, he was like, what kind of reaction can I do to look like a crazed lunatic that winds up drawing a ton of attention and everyone gets excited about.

And so, yeah, we're... He looked like a Game of Thrones character. He's getting talked about in the Stanley Cup final. I mean, that's incredible. Yeah, hey, good PR for him, right? But honestly, he looked like the, you know, the guy with the red beard

from Game of Thrones. Yep. Like, that's what he looked like. He looked like a wildling. I mean, he's a wildling. Barbarian out there. Yeah, he's a wildling.

It was awesome. But yeah, I mean, I just, I don't think, is this the, is this really the way the Oilers beat the Panthers? There's no world where that's true. Like they, they beat them by figuring out how to solve and time that forecheck to hit them off the rush. They have to beat them with skill. They beat them because Drysidal and McDavid are inevitable.

And, and yeah, that probably. includes on the power play, but I don't think it includes trying to out Panthers the Panthers. You're never going to win that way. And I mean, they're the Panthers for a reason and you're not. You know, and that's okay. You can win this series. We've seen them hang with this Panthers team in two of three games. We saw them nearly complete a historic Stanley Cup final comeback last year. This is not a mismatch. Like, this is not a mismatch where the Oilers have to ugly it up to hang with the Panthers. These are evenly matched teams.

And I think the more the more of these games feel like they're being played on the Panthers terms, which I think has been true across all three games of the series to this point, the more you can feel it's slipping away, this opportunity is slipping away from McDavid and Co. Yeah, if you're an oiler, you know how you can stand up for your teammates? As a forward, maybe providing a little support for your defenseman, whether it's actually coming down lower to get the puck or some of those anchor plays they've had success with the neutral zone where you turn your back to the forecheckers. and then bump it off to a forward and all of a sudden McDavid's flying with speed

downhill and that was not present to them in this game at all. And that's why it kind of went out of hand. I mean, they're going to have to execute with precision, right, on a lot of those plays and amidst that chaos and we've seen them do that. It just was not available in this one. So I feel like, you know, we're, we've done a lot of the pre-scouting in terms of getting ready for game for it, but I feel like that's where the game is ultimately going to be decided, right?

Getting out in transition, getting the puck safely into the game. neutral zone and then attacking from there. And if you're able to do that, all of a sudden, there will theoretically be more avenues for McDavid and Drysidal to actually get shots off, which they combined for two, as I said, in this one between the two of them. And it's going to be harder to do that here if all of those minutes are against Barkov and Forrestling, essentially. But that's what's going to have to be done, I think, in game four for them.

Yeah. Yeah. And as we've seen, I mean, they can get Barkov and Forzling, right? you know, it obviously easier said than done, but they've had their moments in this series. So I just think getting back to figuring out how to play their game, trying to give up fewer chances off the rush. They need to do better more to support their goaltender.

And they need to be focused on hockey because they clearly got ventilated, beat in absolutely every facet of the game. Like, you know, there's not one area where you would have given them the edge tonight. top of the lineup, bottom of the lineup, right? Between the whistles, power play, penalty kill, like, goaltending, there was just nothing that the Oilers could hang their hat on this evening. And so, you know, maybe there's an edge to that. You respond to it, you burn the tape. There's nothing to take from this one, you know, move on with it. But that was ugly. That was thoroughly ugly. And probably, you know, I think from my perspective, as much as I don't, like, I don't

expect the oilers to just get run over roughshod over the balance of the series. I expect them to be a lot better in game four. And if they do go home 3-1, I think they're going to be remarkably difficult to kill prior to game seven. So I still think this is going to be a close series. But, you know, my confidence in that certainly is dented as a result of just how dominant the Panthers were in that third game. Yeah, I think that's fair. But these are two great teams. and when you're competing for the Stanley Cup,

you're going to have these ebbs and flows, and so it's going to come up to how they adjust to that. You got any parting shots here? I feel like we did a pretty good job of covering everything we saw here in game three. I mean, we highlighted everything the Panthers did well, everything that was missing for the Oilers for the most part. And essentially the pre-scout is just that needs to flip essentially for the Oilers. And the Panthers, I think they're incredibly happy playing the game this way,

if it comes to it. And with what they did defensively, that's exactly to a T how they want to execute. Well, you've now also, like, the Oilers gooned it up so much in the later, latter stages of this game, too, that no one can credibly go in there and pretend that the oilers have like the upper ground or the moral high ground here, you know? So, yeah, I mean, the Panthers should do everything possible in game four to get under their skin and make people frustrated and keep this series in the gutter. not even because they can't keep up with the Oilers skilled game.

That would be far too dismissive. This Panthers team's incredible, filled with elite talent of their own. They do not need this series to be mucky to win it, but they certainly will win it if it stays like that without question. Yeah, I'm fascinating. I mean, game four is on Thursday night. We got the extra day off between them. And, you know, the ice time still got up there in the 20s for McDavid-Joy-Saito,

but the word of it was much different than it would be typically. Yeah, playing that late shift. Yeah. Playing that late shift four on four. But in fairness, the Oilers looked like they had a beer league bench with like eight guys on it. So made sense, I guess. All right, buddy. You got anything to plug here on the way out?

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