The Hockey PDOcast - Post Game Reactions and Takeaways Following Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance to sort through everything they saw in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, how the Oilers mounted their comeback after going down 3-0, and what to expect heading into Game 5 on Saturday night. 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 PDOCast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDOCast. My name's Dmitra Filipovich and joining me right after the conclusion of game four, the Stanley Cup final doing our post-game show, as always, my good buddy Thomas Trans, Tom. What's going on in? I'm in. I'm still wrapping my head around what has to be one of the great emotional roller coaster games I've ever seen. You know, the Florida Panthers brought their championship A game. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen anyone throw a faster fastball. Like that was, they literally were clocked at like 104 miles per hour in that first period.

It looked like it was over, wrapped, done. The Oilers looked completely dead in the water, overwhelmed, couldn't break out to save their lives. You know, certain players like Vander Cain and company, just unable to stay out of the penalty box, unable to hang with the pace that the Panthers were bringing. The Panthers punishing those mistakes ruthlessly. They get away with one. You know, that 3-0 goal felt like a nail in a coffin.

You know, it really did. It felt like a nail in a coffin goal. And the fact that it happened with them getting away with a high stick, right, was just like, this is Peak Panthers. This is who they do. They are the most unique and devastating combination of gamesmanship and elite skill and relentless grit that we've ever seen, or certainly that we've seen in recent NHL history. And they're going to do it again.

They're going to be, you know, a team. team that, look, you go back to back in the cap area, you are a team of historic consequence. It felt like we were, you know, not just on the road to getting there, but had sort of arrived. And all of a sudden, everything flips. I mean, and then, and then, of course, it flips again. And then we get sort of a bouncer game winner, which is, you know, a perfect reminder of hockey. And the fact that even in this sort of new version of the NHL, where no league, is safe and where elite skill matters more than ever, those bouncers still make a huge difference and the margins are still incredibly fine at this time of year. A crossbar at one end,

a bouncer sort of scooped into the net, kind of like the, it was a lot like the Cory Perry goal in some ways, just kind of off the rush by Leon Drysidal. And there we go, 2-2. And I think that's where we should be, even if we've taken the most circuitous, impossible path to get here. Yeah, 2-2 heading into game 5 on Saturday Night at Edmonton. feels right the way we got there is certainly everything you could ask for from entertainment perspective my job here is easy because i just tee you up i press record i say how's it going man and then you come with this monologue every time right off the dome where you not only recap everything that happened over the past three four hours but also provide us with an insight into

the state of hockey all the dynamics and moving parts it's great we've had listeners suggesting that you're scripting these monologues and i could assure you the tom is just freewheeling it right off the cuff. And it's great. I mean, the oilers are just perpetually stuck in that. It's so over, we're so back feedback loop, right? And even within this, there were a number of turns all across it. It was a complete roller coaster ride.

You know, if we ever get deposed for whatever reason, and they ask for our text logs and take our phones, I'm going to be like Tom Brady, I'm going to wipe my phone, and then refuse to hand it and try and delay it for as long as possible, because I don't want anyone reading the text after the first period. because I think the tone, and I think rightly so, based on the period we just watched, was immensely different from I'm sure how you and I are feeling right now. One final thing before we dive into this.

Shout out to our guy, Camberra, who is the program director here at Sportsnet 650, who's responsible for staying up and getting these podcasts out to you as quickly as possible as soon as these games finish after we record. And he's on standby the entire time. Now, three of these four games have gotten in overtime, and he's just like waiting for us to send in the files. And so hopefully we're, we're going to rattle through this and get it up there

so people can listen and enjoy our 50 minute or so deep dive here of what, what transpired as we try to figure out what happened. And, uh, and kind of, I'm going to try to work through my notes here. There were so many twists and turns, as you'd imagine.

Do you want to start with the, the PDO cast three stars here? Because I feel like that's going to be a good game. Yes, I've got the NHL three up. So I'm ready to go with the, with the official ones, you give us our version of the PDO cast three stars. My third star is going to be Matthew Kachuk in a losing effort here. Obviously, he scores the two goals early.

I thought, you know, he made some mistakes with the puck throughout, but on the power play in particular, his decision making and the way he was carving up the Oilers, PK was immense. I had a couple looks that didn't even result in those goals where he had the one where he kind of sent it cross-ice and the replay really does it justice where it's through the defender's legs, and I believe it was Barakov on the receiving end, he redirected it, and they were able to stop it. He had a couple of those, obviously the two goals,

and then assists on Sam Reinhardt's tie-ing goal in the waning seconds as well. Now, I think he was very surprised by Ryan Hart's pass to him, and he kind of bobbled and it kicked it over, but it wound up resulting in the goal. So he has three points, and this one did a lot of his damage, obviously with more Panthers skaters out there than the Noilers ones, but I thought he was awesome with the advantage in terms of the stuff he was setting up and probably could have had even more points to his name than he wound up with. So I haven't been a losing effort as my third star.

It was 4-1 at 5-on-5, right? Like that's all you need to know. It was 4-1 on 5-on-5 and the Panthers, you know, still, I mean, built a lead, tied the game, were an inch, a half-inch, a centimeter, which is much less than an inch for our Florida-based list. away from ending this game with that Sam Bennett chance in overtime. And, you know, the power play was key. Kachuk cooking at five on four and five on three as well. The way he manipulated traffic on that wrist shot, by the way, just extraordinarily

patient. You know, the Bouchard ended up screening Barkov won the draw and then took help take Skinner's eyes. I mean, or that goal, that goal. And I thought Skinner was pulled more as a. a reflection of the team's performance in front of him than of his. And that goal, for example, I mean, that might as well be an uncovered backdoor tap-in. You know, provided that you lift the puck and put it loosely in a corner, that's going in 75% of the time.

And, you know, that's not to take anything away from the finish. Kachuk created that opportunity with world-class patience. And you're right, the way that he was snapping that puck about from the flank, I mean, I still think it's a great bit. that the Florida Panthers power play immediately starts to look far more dangerous the moment Nate Schmitt steps on the ice. And yet, you know, I do think, I do think the way that Kachuk was working made power play one a potent weapon for the Panthers. And honestly, built their edge and probably kept them in this one. Yeah, that was Markov's first point of the series. I believe, and he wins that draw cleanly five one three to set them up against R&H. And then very craftily takes away both

the defender and the goalie's eyes to set up that Kachuk shot. I have here in my notes. Early on, it feels like forever to go now, but while Skinner was still in there, and it was zero zero. Cichuk was doing a lot of what we highlighted in the game three post game, right, of making a lot of plays from the goal line as a distributor. He set up the Evan Origa shot from the slot that Skinner kicked out. It came to Bennett. Skinner got across, barely kept it out.

He had the give and go with a beautiful kind of one touch redirection by Barkov that set up him back door and Kulak got a stick across it. So he kind of had another two or three. assists on this easily and then the second power play goal he scored came off of that tick-tac-toe passing play essentially where barkoff off the wall gives it to him goal line he sends it into the slot to reinhart he fumbles it initially gets a shot off and then he collects the rebound and tucks at home so he was awesome my second star and this one might if you read our first period text messages would certainly surprise you but darnel nurse now in this game yeah after coming out of game

three all our conversations about how the oilers defensemen had really struggled with retrievals and breakouts and all that stuff. Chris Knoblox switches up the pairs, right? He pulls Klingberg, he brings in Troy Stetcher, who has kind of been labeled as this Darnell Nurse whisperer and his ability to really, in a no-nonsense approach, kind of calm him down and just play a very direct game and free nurse up to play with a natural righty.

And we didn't even see that as this game progressed because from the second period on, essentially, I think reflecting the significance of this game and what a crossroads moment it was for the Oilers trying to salvage their season, Chris Knoblox shortens the best. bench really rides five defenders here. So the ice times are elevated for a lot of these guys.

And Nurse had a very shaky first period. He takes that penalty to make it a 5-1-3, the leads to the bar kachukkel. The second kachukle was a full value penalty. It was. Like there were penalties to complain about? That was not one of them. On the second one, he's kind of playing the role of a Shawblocker in between Kach the passer and Reinhardt and the slot is the shooter.

He doesn't really cover anyone up, loses balance, winds up losing Kachuk. Kachuk is able to convert on the rebound. he was very shaky there and then I thought his performance in the second period in particular when this game started to swing was immense for the oilers right he had the shot that makes it three two kind of coming down it looks like a bad goal but he really picks his spot from that bad angle and goes up high most importantly against bobrowski finds a little opening short side above his shoulder and then helps set up the three three goal for prozhen tricyto finally gets to stay in the face off circle wins an ozone draw he retrieves it

brings it around the net, sends it out front, and then Procolson is able to bury it, and so he really had a direct impact in the 3-2 and 3-3 goals, and those were obviously monumental in getting the Oilers back in this game. So I'm going to give Darnal Nurse the second star, Bouchard's workload in this game was immense. He played 27 minutes just through regulation alone.

Wallman scored the goal to make it 4-3. Eckholm, had that huge shot block to prevent a kachuk hatchet in the second period. So all these guys contributed, but I feel like singling out darnelner for his role in those two goals is why I'm giving him the second star here. And that shot was incredible. I mean, Bobrovsky is for sure shooting pass doesn't expect the shot to come. So there was a bit of like he'd want that back that there's a bit of a goaltender error on that finish.

But that doesn't change how heads up it was, how accurate it was, the velocity of it. I mean, that was a great shot. Just honestly a world-class shot. And I do think for it, Darnell Nurse to me feels like one of those classic guys who because people think of him and because he's often cast in a role as like the physical defensive shutdown guy and because that's not really what he is. I think people often criticize him and often that criticism is deserved because if you're

judging him based off of what we expect him to play. like that's sort of where you get. But I do think there's an element of chaos in his game that's actually pretty good. I mean, he can be a physically assertive player rushing the puck. We've seen him come up big with sort of in moments, especially when the team is pressing, when things get a little chaotic. You know, he's a great hockey player and he can make some heads up game breaking plays. Now, some might say game breaking plays both ways, but nonetheless, there are good things about his game. And I feel like this. game and especially with the Oilers forced to chase sort of showcased it in that second period.

Like you really did see in that first 40 minutes sort of the double edge sword that Darnell nurse can be, but it's sharp at both ends. It is. I think that chaos is generally a net positive, obviously tossing aside the salary and all the frustrations with whether he's worth what he's paid. I do because of that, though, wonder about why Chris Nalbach would be sending him out there on the PK, especially with that cold back, I just feel like some of those attention to details

and his coverage low in the zone sometimes leave stuff to be desired. So I'm not sure about that, but his creation here helped a lot. The first star, I feel like has to go to Calvin Pickard here. Now, shout out to you, because in our game three post game, you were wondering about whether Chris Knoblock

would make the switch out of the gate. He obviously makes the pull after the three nothing goal, and it wasn't necessarily anything against Skinner, because I thought that could have gotten incredibly ugly, even more so than it was in the first year, and he made some big saves to keep it at least manageable. But Pickard comes in and in my notes, you know,

in that classic turning point moment, like remember this save, Walman turns it over, just runs into Lundell, Lundell steals it from him. I thought Lundell had another monster game here, following up his game three, goes in alone against Pickard,

Pickard stops it. I think it was three, three at the time, and he makes another brilliant pad save, Schmidt, with another beautiful decision of a shot pass across the ice to Evan Rodriguez who tips it. Pickard's able to get across with his pad. His pads were immense. He made a number of great pad saves in this game. And then in the overtime, he gets bailed out a

little bit by Bennett's shot ultimately going off the crossbar, but he gets enough of him with his glove to at least give himself a chance to benefit from it and then stares down, what, 30 seconds later, that loose Terenan shot from the middle of the ice essentially and shrugs it off with his shoulder. And that allowed Drysidal to go back and score the inevitable or eventual winner. And so him coming in, stopping 22 or 23 like that, certainly got bailed out by Ekholm with that shot block that I just said that prevented that could shock hat trick that really could have put the game away.

But he made some huge stops. And this one, and it's exactly what they needed. And I think pretty clearly will be their game five starter heading into Saturday night. That save, you know, it does hit the crossbar. But, I mean, that set up, Bennett got all of it. He didn't wire it back into the middle of the net. You know, not that he picked a corner expertly,

but he put it to the side. he had the goalie moving east west that is a extreme high difficulty save by by pickard and then i thought the one on barkoff you mentioned the pads and that that save on barkoff in the third period that was a huge swing in this game i thought he was awesome so the nchel and i love i love that pickard's the first uh... cpedio cast star i feel like uh i would have had pod colson at least as an honorable mention i thought he was a big swing uh player in this game, but we can get into it when we talk matchups because that combo with Corey Perry and Drysidal not only was the line that decided the game with Pod Coles and making sort of an

uncharacteristic heads up outlet pass to sort of, you know, diffuse one of those moments of like with thering persistent Florida Panthers pressure and get the puck moving in the right direction with Drysidal sort of finishing it off with that scoop a little bit of a little bit of a bounce. a lot of a bounce actually, excuse me, there's no need to downplay it. But yeah, I mean, we'll get into that later. The NHL's official three stars, however,

Leon Drysidal one, Sam Reinhart, two, and Matthew Kachuk, three. Reinhardt, on his goal, but also the second Panthers goal, the Kach, so Kuch's second goal, where he, I mean, he had so much time in the slot that he could have set up a

lemonade stand. like written the sign, you know, 25 cents for a cup and maybe sold a couple cups before an Oilers defender reached him. And yet, I think there's a through line with that play and then his goal to tie it late, which is just that there was a sense in his game. And I thought you felt it all night, even on sort of chances that he took. He had a really smart sort of backdoor chance that he created where it was kind of like a no look like he was looking past. the whole way and then and then just sort of shot it. Pickard made a great save. It felt like he alone on the ice in various moments had his head about him, right?

Like the, he was going to find a solution in the most panicky, chaotic moments of the game. And I thought it showed through in two different moments, you know, in a series in which he's had some misses, right, in a playoffs in which his finishing game has maybe been frustrating. Perhaps he didn't have the sort of impact we would have expected at the four nations, right? after especially coming off the, you know, playoff that he had last year and the fact that this is now a consistent 50-goal Selky trophy nominee winger, right? I mean, there's been some big stage moments where he hasn't necessarily been

at his absolute best. But I saw on the TNT broadcast tonight, Wayne Gretzky called him one of the smartest players in hockey, if not the smartest player in hockey. And I think in those moments where just everything is breaking down and Reinhardt has the solution, you could see it. Like, you could see it tonight in a major way. and I thought he was tremendous,

even if he's a snub like Pod Colson and the PDO cast three stars. Yeah, I think that's fair. I had the three Oilers, Drysidal, R&H, and Pod Colson on my honorable mentions, and I wanted to jam them in there, but we already had the two Oilers, and I wanted to give Kachs and well for his playmaking.

You've got to make some hard decisions here. As well, certainly. I think, you know, Dreisidal scores the game winner and gets that balance, but I thought just displaying what a dog he is with holding off career on that play and then having enough strength to at least get, something through there and then benefiting off the bounds from Mikola.

You know, heading into the second period when they're down three nothing, he was coming off of four straight periods of zero combined shot attempts in Florida in this series. And I think part of it was because of this endless march to a penalty box with Oilers, he's one guy who doesn't kill penalties and get out there, right? And so it's very disjointed usage and inability to kind of get into the flow of the game. We saw Chris Knoblock in the first period trying to get him out with the fourth line on occasion and sitting Yanmark there just to get him more reps

and more opportunities to take over this game. During that flurry, I forget what the score was at this time now, but Boebrovsky had a couple huge saves on the Oilers Power Play. He had the McDavid Rush where he dropped Eckblad,

essentially. He's been torturing him all series with his speed, and then he had the one where he gave it, in a patented fashion, gets it across to dry cycle for that seam shot

and Bobrovsky was able to get across. I love the Sports Night broadcast was showing, you know, this guy's the best right up there with Crossby, in terms of his work on the backhand, right? And none of it is an accident.

We talk a lot about the reps Kuturov puts in, for example, knocking pucks down off the wall and then making plays off that and how he does a million of those reps in the off season and throughout the year to prepare for game action. Same thing can be applied to Dreisdol on his backhand, right? And they show during this practice and we spent so much time the past 48 hours talking about this reported Oilers practice and whether it was happening or whether the media was invited or what was happening. And then we see the clip of it.

And Drey Seidel's working on his backhand doing these little saucers over a stick that's laying on the ice. And then they also show Pocleson coming over and really benefiting from that tutelage of that skill set and getting some tips from him on what to do, how to receive pucks on the backhand. We see him benefit from it on the 3-3 goal where he corrals it in front, one his backhand and beats Bobrovsky with it. And so I thought that was a really nice little wrinkle. He also, Andre Seidel did, suckered Bennett into that penalty in the third, the one, the only one that was called in that. frame when the refs obviously decided they weren't going to decide this game with calls where off the off the puck he just moving his feet despite their best efforts draws the trip and so just seeing him moving his feet and being involved and after such a quiet by his standards game in game three i thought he really stepped

up in this one and obviously delivered in the oilers way i wanted to shout out rn h as well right because he's clearly not a hundred percent the sports and broadcast was highlighting the decision to have him out there taking the draw on that five one three how barkoff just quickly won it against him and then took him away in that play. Setting up the Walman goal was just an unbelievable effort by him, right? He knocks Reinhardt down. He's essentially the only guy down there below the goal line against two or three Panthers.

He obstructs them enough on the breakout and just gets in the way enough to get reinforcements. Yanmark jumps in and knocks it away and then helps that one up. And shout out to our guy, Jake Wallman, who very easily could have been buried talking about redemptions, that turnover when it was 3-1 to Lundell, the pickard bailed him out on. I love, I tweeted out the screen grab of this, but I just, what a rock star. He is calling for the shot. He's got his stick cocked up in the air, like at the blue line as Caputin has it, I believe,

and then just glides over to the opposite face off circle, waiting the entire time with the stick in his air. And then just on Corks one, passed Mabrovsky and gives us the celebration after. And that was one of the most telegraphed slav shots I could remember and actually following through 100 and then beating Bobrovsky, who was once again quite good in this game, was a remarkable accomplishment by Walman. So yeah, I wanted to shout that one out as a play that really stuck in my mind and was kind of a defining one in this game four. Yeah, that was the heat check of all heat checks. And I loved the screenshot you shared on Twitter, just like of how early the windup occurred. You know, Jake Wallman irrational confidence, right? The Oilers are not winning this series

without moments like that. They were not winning this game without that specific moment. The R&H sequence, that's a that's a panther's goal not not to say that it's a happy learned to putt moment or anything like that because i don't think that this series is i don't think the series is at any point going to break to where one team overwhelms the other and the other doesn't find their footing again and and throw their best haymaker back like i think we've seen enough to know that the as good as the panthers are defensively the oilers can eliminate deficits against them right and as good as the oilers are off the rush, the Panthers can bottle them up and frustrate them

and can certainly cut their attack off at the stem. I mean, that dynamic was present in extremes both ways. But that forechecking sequence, like that felt like one of those frustrating. They can't clear it. They can't quite clear it. No one can quite get a handle on it.

The pressure is overwhelming. And then, you know, a couple quick plays and boom, it's in the back of your net. That just felt like a Panthers goal in this series as opposed to one that the Oilers have scored previously, they need a few more like that, right? They need a few more like that,

a few moments where they, you know, cause Panthers' mistakes and punish them, as opposed to all of their goals requiring, you know, a ton of like team level moves or, you know, Ryan Nugent Hopkins correctly reading that he's the guy being given space and just kind of waltzing into the high slot, you know, an incredible read by Darnell Nurse, right? A sick finish by Podgolz.

And I mean, you need some simpler goals too. And it felt like that one where, you know, Ryan Nugent Hopkins effectively just wins, you know, a 50-50 battle and then maybe a 2080 battle and ultimately sets up that Walman goal. It just felt like that was something the Oilers needed in that moment, obviously to take the lead, but also just need more of in this series generally. Can we get into matchups here? Because I want to talk about the McDavid factor. or the McDavid of it all to be self-referential.

And I don't know if you want me to do that before or after the break. We're going to do it after the break. Let me just wrap up with this. Because the playoffs and especially the Stanley Cup final is at the root of it. I think the redemptions and the ability to atone for mistakes or redeem yourself or how it can even go the other way is so abundantly obvious. And there's so many examples of this one. We just highlighted the Walman one with the turnover and then scoring the four three goal.

You could loop tricycle in there as well, right? because what is it, 326 left in the third period. Boilers are up 4.3. He has a chance to deliver the dagger. He has this inspired solo rush where he gets around Kulikov. And Bobrovsky stops it. And you're thinking, all right, well,

they missed their opportunity to make it 5'3 here. Then obviously the Panthers come back and tie it. There were so many instances of that. I could even say for Mikala, right? We mentioned that Bennett shot off the crossbar in overtime. If you go back and rewind that one, Mikola makes this brilliant pass coming in from the left point where he gets it essentially dance.

around McDavid gets it through his skates and sets up that Benna chance and then obviously eventually that dry sight all one-handed pass out front goes off of them and into the back of the net. So talking about it as a game of inches and how this stuff can kind of flip on a dime is truly remarkable. Let's go to break here, Tom. And then when we come back, we'll jump right back in it. We're going to keep going through our PDO cast categories for these post games. I'm going to let you cook on the matchups as well. So we've got a lot to look forward to in the backoff of today's show.

You're listening to the Hockey PEOCast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio. network. All right, we're back here on the Hockey PEOCast with Tom a chance doing our game four post game show. Tom, I'm sorry to keep teasing you here. We'll do the hard match and the adjustments and the head-to-head minutes all down in a second. All good. Let's keep it in order here chronologically.

Let's do our fastball moment of the game. Do you have one that comes to mind? I mean, it's got to be Jake Walman, right? Absolutely has to be Jake Walman, I think, with that wind up and with that finish. I thought that was perhaps the key moment of the game. Even if the Florida Panthers ended up tying it up, it just felt like that was such a, for the Oilers to fully emerge, right,

from a three nothing deficit in which their Stanley Cup, dream looked completely like more than on life support, declared dead, DOA. Then, I mean, I felt like that was just such a, that was such an emotional moment. You could see it for them. I'm sure you could feel it watching the game, regardless of what side you were rooting for, right?

Either the catatonic disappointment or the jubilation if you're a partisan for either team. So for me, it's got to be that. I think that's fair. Certainly the most theatrics involved, and we highlighted a lot of them in part one before we went to break. I didn't add the, I mean, a couple of the stops, right? Whether it was Bobrovsky or Andreis Stuyler or Pickard on Lundell,

I'd add the, you know, setting up the 3-1 goal, right? Because I think you and I both expect, you know, had this anticipation before the game we're texting, we're expecting this new performance from McDavid and Dreisidal after just the optics of game three, how that got away from them, how embarrassing that was on all fronts where they were essentially losing every single battle. And then McDavid gets that great A chance off of a dump-in in the first 15, 20 seconds of the game. And from that point on, it was just all Panthers.

It was an onslaught even before the goals. you look at how that period ended and shot attempts are 34, 15 Florida, shots were 18, 7, high danger chances were 131 for the Panthers and you're like, man, this wasn't the bounce back I was expecting at all. And then coming out of the second,

especially in light of us talking so much through the first three games about how the Panthers had dominated these second periods, turns out all it took was them just being completely on the rope so their season on the line down 3-0 facing the likelihood of a 3-1 deficit in this series and the Panthers or the Oilers just deliver a Panthers-esque second period where essentially all of those numbers were just flipped on their head. And it really started early in that period with Bouchard making this nice read of getting the puck up the ice.

They run one of those little anchor plays in the neutral zone. He sees an opening. He sprints up the ice. He draws a penalty on Sam Bennett. And then they score on the ensuing power play where Joyce Eidl finds R&H for the cross seam finish. And that really, I feel like, fed into what was to follow in that. period. And without that sort of initial igniting moment, maybe we don't get any of this in this entire conversation is in a completely different light. So I feel like just kickstarting it

with that single play was, I think, a massive one in terms of the Oilers fastball and sort of enabling everything that ensued. But yeah, the Wallman won just in terms of what a cool player was and how much time you and I have disproportionately spent highlighting his irrational confidence he checks and all of that. I feel like that was an incredible one. All right, let's get into the hard match then. Some of the adjustments, some of the head to heads we saw in this game, especially now as the series is shifting back to Edmonton with them having more control over who's going to play against who. Yeah. And you know, you can feel as this series goes on, Zach Hyman's absence, right? The Oilers don't have their break glass in case of emergency, tri-force to turn to in bleak moments. And Noblock had to reach deep into his bag to come up with some answers today. you know, the Panthers obviously dominated the first 20 minutes so thoroughly that at least in terms of the shot attempts and even the shots. I mean, this was Florida's best five on five game in the series by a fair bit by the data and by the I test too.

But a couple things that I liked about how the Oilers chased in this one was they avoided the temptation that they fell into, you know, certainly in, when they were chasing in game two and game three was such a ridiculous contest that I don't know that we'll put much stock into it one way or the other. But where you end up loading up your top five, right, where you have Acomen-Bouchard and you have McDavid and Drysidal on the ice and, you know, you cycle through whomever you want, Perry, R&H, whatever on that line. And you let all the depth sort of loose. Like that this is our best option. We're going with as a nuclear, a top end of the lineup as we can manufacture, and we're going to hope that that carries us. And I do think that this Oilers team to beat this Panthers team needs to diversify their attack.

I think they need to find different answers. And I do wonder if they've stumbled into something pretty interesting in this Drysidal Podkholzin peri trio that they put together after, you know, Drysidal got kind of waxed in the early part of the game with Kappan and Evander Kane on his wings. obviously that line ends up sort of plus two, or Pod Colson and Perry do, and they manufacture the game winner. I thought Pod Colson, though, really looked more confident with the puck, a bit of a bounce back for him after that ghastly turnover sort of, you know, broke the Oilers back in game three, not just the backhand goal and not just the heads-up

outlet pass on the overtime winner, but I loved that bad angle. shot that he took that all Bobrovsky could do was kick the puck into the slot. As much as, you know, Pod Colson is probably never going to be a high-end goal scorer. I mean, the guy has a cannon. Like, he's got a really good wrist shot. He can absolutely wire the puck. And I thought that was just a smart shoot for a rebound shot. And if you go watch that clip, too, right after it, the puck gets recycled back to the point.

And Pod Colson's open calling for the one time or again. He doesn't really have the wait to do that. He gets looked off. he was right. That would have been a great scoring opportunity. So it felt like he asserted himself in the wake of a really tough game. He obviously comes up with a couple big points. And I honestly thought that line had a big impact turning this one around. Globally speaking, because what I really want to get at is the sort of larger point about where we sit in this series, right? And this series is, you know, I don't need to tell anybody. We've been watching these games.

game except for game three has been decided by a bounce. You know, one, one, like either, all three of the four, four of these games could have gone either way easily. They were in the balance throughout. I mean, they've needed overtime in a lot of them. We haven't had a lot of early recordings as we've been doing this podcast and that's been, you know, both stressful and super enjoyable and dramatic. And I think that's right in terms of the form that these teams have.

shown. You know, we're talking about a nine, eight, five on five goal difference. We are talking about very little separating these two teams. And yet, you know, I think there's a problem emerging as I sort of think about what's coming next and who's due and sort of where the big problems lie here. And you won't be shocked to learn that I think the biggest problem that the Panthers have here is that Connor McDavid is destroying things five on five and has yet to really have the damn break in his favor. And I suspect it's only a matter of time. And now that it's a best of three, with two of the games being on Oilers Home Ice, that sort of gets complicated.

Here's the stats really quick. Using, you know, excuse me, using Eckblad and Seth Jones as like a proxy for the minutes against those two pairs, right? The top four of Florida, you know, the edge for the Oilers is 50 to 30 on the shot clock. And the goal difference is one to five for the Panthers.

And that to me seems completely unsustainable. Like that's something that's not going to hold. And actually in this game, you know, game three, two, but in both of these games in Florida, it really did feel like the Panthers had containment as much as you can ever have containment on 97. He still could have easily scored two goals probably with some better finishing luck. He had that sort of whiff on that break chance with dry sidel in the third.

He also had the moment where he sort of posterized neckblad again. No shame in that, by the way. But he didn't shoot high on Bobrovsky. You know how we feel about that on this program. That's always something to shake your head at. So not the best chance, but still an incredible feat. And so I just sort of look at this and think, man, if this is like a cat's game at five on five to this point. And that's with the Oilers or sorry, the Panthers top four owning a five to one edge on the scoreboard against McDavid, despite McDavid, you know, generating, you know, by a wide margin, like two for every one they get.

in terms of looks, like that to me is actually kind of a red warning indicator. As much as the Panthers 4 check has played, as much as, you know, their combo of gamesmanship and skill has put the Oilers on the ropes on multiple instances already in the first four games of the series, I think if that continues over the balance of these three games, like the oilers will be and should be favored to sort of come out of this. And so that's just something like a dynamic that I'm watching for here. Because as much as Verhege and Reinhart were due earlier in this series, I think we're now talking about McDavid being due.

And that's a guy who's not due for long. He's going to capitalize. He's going to come through. There's a sense of an inevitability with him. And there should be that that sense has been hard won by him, by like a decade of greatness in his NHL career. I think that applies that same sentiment to both of the number one centers here, though, right?

obviously maybe to a lesser degree in terms of our expectations, especially for Barkov, because he can do a lot of the other stuff and is it relied upon to carry such a scoring burden for this Panthers team. But I feel like he's had so many looks in tight. He had another three or four in this game and he still doesn't score. Natural Statue has him down for nine high-dangered chances and 15 scoring chances in these four games. So you have to feel good about the looks he's getting. He just hasn't really been able to convert any of them. To illustrate the point you're making, though, and this is including like 25, percent of the sample through four games is that horror show game one for that forzing

egg blad player that you and i talked a lot about after game one in the post game through four games we've seen 44 percent of mac david's minutes come against forsling and the oilers are up in shots 25 to seven but high danger chances are six six goals are one nothing florida and i feel like what forsling's done in these past three games has just been so monumental right it'll i feel like he almost he's becoming the the most important instant repeat play player because sometimes something happens where you're like, oh man, that was a great chance. How did that not go in? How did the opposition in this case, the Oilers not score it? And then you see the replay and he does something with his stick to either nullify the opportunity

or slow the forward down just enough that Bobrovsky can recover. And he had one early on where it was still three nothing in the second where Skinner gets past him. And I thought Skinner was awesome in this game, which is pure effort, kind of grinding out opportunities. he had another one in overtime. And then you see the replay and Forsling recovers and gets enough of a stick to sort of make it a less dangerous opportunity. He obviously with his skate stopped the second Frederick attempt early in the overtime that seemed like it would have been a sure goal. And I still really don't know how that one didn't get redirected in. And so it's going to be a lot easier.

I imagine we're going to see a lot of Mikala and Jones against McDavid. And despite the goals, as you said, you have to feel good about the process for Oilers and probably much more against the Bennett line as well, which is still, despite how well Bennett's played. more theoretically more vulnerable off the rush defensively for the Oilers to attack. And we've seen Paul Maurice in these two games at home make a pretty concerted effort to keep away from that matchup

and to good results. And so now it's going to be much more difficult for him to do so in game five and game seven if we get that down the road. Personal request for me to you, by the way, because we've talked a lot about Bennett's puck carrying and how dynamic it is and how despite pedestrian point totals

throughout his career, despite the fact that he is probably best deployed with an elite plan making winger, which he's been fortunate to have throughout his tenure in Florida, that to some extent his offensive value outweighs his production. And I thought tonight was a really good example. The Kachuk shot that Ecombe blocked into a, you know, in front of an empty net, like an absolutely yawning cage.

Really nice play by Bennett on the entry where he goes on his A frame and just kind of stops skating. And I mean, mark of a really sharp playmaking forward, the fact that he stopped almost like caught all the Edmonton defenders completely off guard. Everyone was puck watching as he just sort of was able to wait and then find that overlap pass out on his left wing. I thought that was an enormously skilled play. He was obviously like an inch or two one way or the other from having a key assist on that Kachuk goal, which would have been, you know, an icing goal from a Florida's perspective.

And then obviously, you know, had a great shot on the overtime winner that Pickard made a desperation stop on. So another great game. But yeah, personal request for me to you is at some point, I want a super cut of Bennett line shifts with Kachuk and Buragie set to like the Woody Woodpecker soundtrack. It was another game tonight where especially with some of their shenanigans and, and, but more than not just the shenanigans, not just the way they work the refs and on and on, but also the way that they're just always coming, that relentless pursuit, especially on the forecheck, I just can't think of anything more annoying. There's no line, there's no way there's a more annoying line to play against,

both because they're so good, because they're so cynical, than that line. I thought they had a great game tonight, even if it wasn't a losing effort. Well, on the three, nothing goal with, what, 42 seconds left before intermission, really felt like a backbreaker in the moment. It comes off this sequence where the Oilers have a bunch of zone time. The Panthers are dead tired. They've been out there for a minute. Reinhardt, as soon as they get out of the zone, goes off for a change,

and Lundell comes on and replaces him. And Verhege is just the lone guy out there still, and he puts in this effort to go and bothers Stetcher. Now the replay shows that he gets the high stick up, and that was the second one of that period that probably could have been called on the Panthers and wasn't. But he goes in there, causes that retrieval turn over, gets it out to Lundell for the goal. And at that point, I feel like we can't under, we can't, like, oversell this enough.

At that point, the Panthers had scored 10 of the past 11 goals in the series. They're up 3-0 at home staring a 3-1 potential series lead. And for the Oilers to mount that second period they did, it was just incredible. And I think why this series is such a dream matchup is living up to all the hype and is surely headed towards another seven-game classic for us. I'm glad we're not spending that much time talking about the officiating, right? because I certainly thought, you know, on that at Colm Block, that would have been a Kachukhattrick

and would have changed the course of this game right after it, for Hagee leaves his feet and drills, Bouchard along the boards. And I don't understand why the refs didn't at least utilize the mechanism that we've seen them use this postseason, which is just called a five-minute major review it, get a better look on it, and then decide to either downgrade it or uphold it

or just completely rescind it. And they chose not to do that, and then Dreisaitel takes an elbowing penalty coming right back down and we hate when either way it gets involved and I think there's certainly spotty calls going both directions. So that's frustrating and I'm glad that we can come out of this game with the 2-2 series and not having that being the lead storyline here. I do think though the skill on display, the styles make fights element that both of these teams are bringing to the table. The fact that both teams at their best provide challenges that the

other team can't actually match up with very well. So it's not a a matter of like which team is better. It's it's almost which team is playing their their game at a higher level. I think there's so much to fall in love with with this series. And yet a lot of these games have proven difficult to get into in part because of some of the early officiating. And in part that's on these two teams. They're very difficult to officiate. So I'm not just unfairly criticizing the refs here. But I just would say, you know, in contrast with for example, the four nations face off

where it felt like you never noticed the referees at all. You've noticed them a little bit too much in the first four games of this series. And I just hope

as this series unfolds five, six, seven, they're less of a talking point, less of an annoyance, less of something that I'm bringing up

to you in text message as you roll your eyes at me while reading my complaining texts. Even the Bennett call, by the way, on dry sidle in the third, I get it.

It's a penalty. He does that ever shift. So it's like, Can he do it or not? Because he's doing it every single shift. He's water skiing on the guy constantly. So I don't love when it feels arbitrary, like holding calls in football, where it's like, yeah, that could be called on every play.

So it feels like it's just being arbitrarily applied. I didn't even like that call, despite it being a clear penalty, given the standard established so far in this series. So I hope it's a little bit cleaner going forward. I hope the faceoffs are cleaner going forward to. A lot of called back draws. very strange. It's been a dynamic throughout this series that's becoming cumbersome, annoying to watch.

Two other quick shoutouts before we close out today show. Our guy, facility PDO Coles, and not only the goal, but the play he makes and I don't know if it was going to Perry or whether he meant to address title, but just without dusting it off, that quick little anchor play on the blue line to get a cross-eyes and enable that lucky bounce to begin with. And then Nate Schmidt, and we can, I think we spent enough time talking about this. know that the power play for the Panthers created two more goals, one five, one three, both the Kachuk ones here.

But Schmidt's been incredible, right? When he comes out in that second unit, and it looked like McDavid was going to get a short end and a breakaway at one point, and he was the last guy back and the puck's in his skates, and we've seen a number of defenders over the years panic in that moment and realize they're about to be on a poster and butcher it or whiff on the puck or at least hook McDavid, and he just with such poise, knocks it away, diffuses the situation entirely. He helped set up one of those power plays with a couple quickups. in close succession to free up Greer for entries and he eventually gets high stick by Kane, I believe,

and that leads to one of the goals. So I thought he was incredible once again. And I feel like we saw the Oilers really whittled down their bench to just the five defenders in here and still trying to figure out who's going to be able to hold up against this forecheck pressure from the Panthers. The way that Kulikov and Schmidt had held, have held up and haven't had those concerns is I think a big differentiation here, even on the road, because they're going to be exposed to more certainly. But they've been doing everything you could ask for them. And then some, I feel like, through these four games. One sort of mark against Schmidt,

one thing that's held him back, despite him being wildly effective on multiple teams over an extended career here, is his penchant for the big giveaway as a puck mover. And I do notice that the Florida Panthers have these sort of area pass releases that he seems to be executing more frequently than the other defenders, where there's a forward coming back. and he's sort of going to elude pressure,

but then he's not sending a stretch pass. It's just kind of a short area pass to a forward that's already gained speed. And they're doing it a lot, and he's doing it really well. And I think it's helping to, you know, insulate him somewhat from an area of his game that sort of, you know, his exuberance, right?

Like there's some Jake Wallman in Nate Schmidt's game as a puck mover. And I feel like the Panthers have come up with a pretty clever way of utilizing his pace and then sort of minimizing his decision making as a passer on outlets, on exits, that I think have served him really well.

So I actually sort of watching that game and watching Schmidt's breakouts, there's a bunch of examples of this where, and more with him than with other Panthers defenders and maybe that's a product of his speed. But I do think it's like suitable for him. So I think there's an element too to which

it's not just that Nate Schmidt's playing at a high level, although he is. I also think there's a clear, like, tactical and organizational, some thought put it into how to utilize his skill set to get the most out of him and to maybe minimize some of the things that in other stops on the way, he's taken off the table. So I honestly bring this up as a credit to him because he's going to do very well and unrestricted for agency as all of Recman-Larsen did before him. And we were joking during the game that Justin Hull is next following his buyout after the same. Stanley Cup final. But, you know, kudos to him, but also kudos to the Panthers. I do think there's some thoughtful deployment going on that's allowed them to get the most out of him. He's been fantastic in this series. He has. There's a, there's an initial GM out there watching these games, just jonesing for the opportunity to give him a four by four. And I imagine that one probably

not age well because that GM's team will not be positioned to put him in this particular spot that covers for a lot of those weaknesses and really highlights the strengths he does. does have. Looking ahead to game five, one thing I'm really interested in, you know, we've had the benefit of extra days off here and everyone resting up and getting ready. And obviously game three was a bit of a throwaway from a usage perspective because it got so out of hand. We saw the Oilers because of necessity really ride their top guys here, right? Like Bouchard plays 31 minutes, I believe. And McDavid's coming up on 30, a ton of Eckholm and Kulak as well, getting approaching 30 themselves. and now all of a sudden game five is on Saturday night,

very quick turnaround, and so I'm very curious to see what that looks like. Seth Jones has certainly played a ton for the Panthers here throughout this series as well, but it'll be a bit of a different dynamic, I think, heading into game five with just flipping the script, the travel as well and getting right back into game five on Saturday night, and I'm very curious to see what that looks like

in terms of freshness and efficiency, because I feel like there's been stretches in the series with all these overtimes where a lot of the precision and accuracy involved that it takes to put together some of these scoring plays has waned a little bit just because of attrition as these games have gone on and all of a sudden I imagine we'll see a little bit of that manifest itself right out of the gate heading into game plan. And I think you're right and it's too bad because if we had our druthers, right, this would be a what a best of 15, something like that.

I mean, I think it's played until it's over. Yeah, I never want this series to end. I don't want either of these teams to lose this series. this is peak NHL entertainment and man am I enjoying it like I really think this is the best hockey we've seen in the cap era I think it's hitting that level the storylines are there the if the refereeing would get out of the way man I would have nothing negative at all to say about the caliber of hockey we're watching the the way that these teams are playing the matchup the things that I find fascinating about the matchup I mean this has just been so exceptional my colleague

from the athletic Mark Lazarus suggested the 2014 Western Conference final, and that was an epic between Chicago and L.A. with that gabberic clutch goal sort of punching L.A.'s ticket. And yeah, I mean, those two teams were, you know, trading years as Stanley Cup winners and were at the absolute peak of their powers with probably five or six Hall of Famers collectively between those two rosters. But, you know, that's the sort of company we're in. That's the conversation we should be having about this series at this point in terms of the level that these teams are at. These are teams of historic significance and we're going to be blessed to witness what remains of, you know, what's now a best of three series. Like I, you know, I often say,

or we'll often say, like, I can't wait. But I, but I mean it in a different, with a different level of gravity and sincerity this time. Like, this is everything. I cannot wait till Saturday. I agree. I mean, I think there's a certain, and listen, like there's 30 other fan bases that are just waiting for the floodgates to open with the draft and free agency and player movement. and that's certainly a fun part of the season. But since October, we've been on this wild ride getting to this point, and I really want to savor all this, and I'm really glad you and I are getting to document each of these games

as kind of individual chapters leading up to the ultimate culmination and hopefully another game seven between these two teams. You got anything to plug here on the way out? Grinding away, Canucks off-season content and coverage at theathletic.com, and Canucks talk is doing the same. every day, every weekday, Monday to Friday, noon to 2 p.m. Pacific time on SportsNet 650 or across the SportsNet podcast network. All right, buddy.

Keep those five-star reviews coming for Dr.anson and I as well. Please keep reference in our fastballs and everything we're delivering trying to keep up with the speed. These two teams are generating. Drans and I will be back here. Mekla has hot shots. Yeah, Mikaa's hot shots, nearly decapitated pickard on one of them. I feel like Chris Cuthbert really loves talking about Mekola's. hot shots and they've certainly been very visibly present.

Dranson, I'll be back here on Saturday night to pick things right back up after game five of the Stanley Cup final and break it all down all over again. I will be back. I'm going to have a chance to get a bit of sleep, rewatch us with clear eyes, really get into the numbers. And I'm going to have our pal Steve Peters on to do a bit more of an X's and O's deep dive to prep you through the recap the first four games, prep you for what should be a really fun game five this weekend as well.

So looking forward to that. And we'll be back here soon with all that. Thank you for listening to the Hockey, Ocast, streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network.