The Hockey PDOcast - What We Saw in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final

Episode Date: June 9, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance right after the final buzzer to break down what they saw in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. 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.

It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDEOCast. My name is Dmitra Filipovich and joining me to recap game one of the Stanley Cup finals, my good buddy, Thomas Trance. Tom. What's going on, man? I love the Stanley Cup final, man. You know, do you think it's just because we went a week without hockey that it felt extra good watching that game?

Because even when stuff wasn't happening in the first period, I was like, it just feels so good to be back watching. I'll be honest. I actually think it was in not in. small part, like the presentation of the broadcast. We're down in the United States. Yes. We're watching on the ESPN feed. And I actually liked some of the reality show elements, bringing out the Stanley Cup,

showing it to the players, you know, having them do starting lineups for both teams, like really giving an American audience or a casual viewing audience a sense of what these guys look like, who they are. I felt like there was almost, yeah, it felt like a show in a different way. And that's fun because sometimes the Stanley Cup final just feels like an extension of what the playoffs have been all along. And this actually felt distinct. And I felt like waiting the amount of time that we did almost like an NFL news cycle week. You know, Brit builds up the anticipation, the storylines.

There's all this time to really sort of savor and build up the stakes and have the everything talked about. And every, you know, Tuesday the story is what the Oilers are doing with their lineup. And by Thursday, it's, I think all of that's fun. Like, I think all of that aids to the feeling of it being a show. Yeah. And again, I love the Stanley Cup. Like I saw Greg Wyshinsky bring up the fact that, you know, in the phase four secure zones in which the bubble hockey was played in the summer of 2022, the players actually played in front of the Stanley Cup, almost like looking at it as if it were, you know, scenics from like a Mortal Kombat level or whatever, right? This is what you're playing for.

And there's an element to which the final always makes me think about the cup and some of that, you know, the gloves off. Yes. A promotion that the league did, I think is just a useful reminder that as much as like Connor McDavid's, the face of the league, like the biggest celebrity in hockey is the Stanley Cup, right? And that's what they're competing for. And having it back, having it there. And then for the game to be nervy early, some really funny chances, some really interesting chances. is an early goal, the environment itself. Like, it just felt like an event in a way that I think the league really needs it to.

Well, and I'm with you. I like all of that. I like the pop and circumstance. I like making it feel like a big deal because it obviously is, right? This is the grandest stage and this is what we've been spending all year playing towards. I guess my issue is why can't they just do this stuff like 25 minutes earlier? Because they start doing it like five minutes after they already slaughtered puck time.

I think everyone who's been following hockey at this point knows, especially once we get this deep into the playoffs, that the start at the start of a suggestion than an actual rule. Like, they're clearly going to start about 20 minutes in advance. But I just wish, like, they've started earlier. Or just list the start time accurately. Right. What people don't realize is the start time for any game on the hour

that's broadcast regionally is seven minutes past the hour. So a 7 o'clock game is 707. A 7.30 is 737. And if it's longer, it's because, because of ceremonies, special events, ceremonial puck drops, or national broadcast at which point, even less standard nationally broadcast game,

starts 13 minutes past the hour. We're all adults. Like, you can list it at 707. It's not a problem. Yeah. You know, I would just like some, maybe a little more accuracy. Like, they know when puck drop's going to be.

There's a timing sheet in both locker rooms and, you know, game presentation, staff have it. Like, just list the time at puck drop. Every other league seems to be able to do it. Well, you were making the point about how they brought out. They wheeled out. I don't really remember them ever doing this before. No.

The Stanley Cup before the opening puck dropped to be like, this is what you're playing for. I wish they almost did it, WWE style where it was like a ladder match where they like hang some sort of like title belts above center ice. And then you just got the players playing for it. And then eventually they'll be able to go up and remove them. No, this was a really fun game. I think you could tell early on certainly part of it might just be because of the extended break, right? both teams had about a week off. The Panthers one night more.

I think there was a part of that. I think you could tell that certainly with all of that pop and circus sense, I think comes an acknowledgement from the players, right? Kind of like how uncharacteristic that media day on Friday is for the grand scheme of things. And all these guys are such like creatures of habit that you get out of that routine a little bit. And I think you can see that early on. I think it's very explainable why we were seeing players kind of like misplay pucks or very uncharacteristically just not look as sharp as we're used to seeing from them.

The Sergey Bobrovsky Adventures without the podcast. Well, no, I think that's very, I think that's very, I think that's very, yeah. She's been doing that all posts. And you bring up the media day practice. Like, even for the Panthers, they don't practice at the game rank. Right. So, like, even though they're the home team, it's like, hey, you know, day before the big game,

let's put you well outside what you're comfortable doing, you know, in the usual course of action, especially because the vast majority of players will live 25 minutes away from the rank, right? Even for the home team, it's so unusual. So yeah, I think it added to the stakes and scenery of the game coming back, but I think you're right. I think there's no question it impacted the flow, especially early on, and arguably for the Panthers for, you know, even longer than that, even though they were the first team to score. Because I thought a lot of what Edmonton generated wasn't, and they had the better chances. We'll get into it at length.

But I thought a lot of it felt as if it were the product of Panthers' mistakes as opposed to, you know, and they, And it changed over the course of the game, but especially in the first period. It felt like a lot of sloppy play from the Panthers fueled some of Edmonton's best looks, as opposed to it being stuff that they were generating themselves off the rush the way we've seen for most of this playoff run. Yeah, it was interesting. I also wonder, you know, we see generally one series start like this. There's a bit of a feeling out period. And I think in particular it's sort of indicative of who you've played most recently.

And we spoke a lot about sort of the goalies that Florida's pay. faced along the way here, right? Going through Vasilevsky and Swamen and Shosturkin, but on the other side of it, they didn't really face teams that posed much of a threat offensively, especially five-on-five, right? I think the Rangers certainly was some of their counterattacking an ability to sort of opportunistically score off the rush

presents a certain set of challenges, but this Oilers team is just such an entirely different animal, right? And I think it would make sense that there would be an additional feeling out period in that way and maybe like sort of recalibrating, I guess, for that speed, especially, I think we could see early on, like when McDavid is just coming through the neutral zone, and then off the quick regroups that we've kind of highlighted that Evan Bouchard facilitates, he catches Eckblad early on with one of those vintage rushes. And you could almost see, like, oh, no, like he's coming full speed.

And I just haven't seen anything like this. Not that it even exists in the rest of the NHL, but through their path through the east. They certainly haven't played a player like this, right? Certainly none in the last week. But the most dangerous weapons they've played are Kutrov, Pasternak, Panarin. Like none of those guys are going to take the puck that way and just go 100 miles an hour downhill and beat you that way. Right. And so I just think that was very interesting.

And that's why I wonder the third period, whether that was instructive in terms of explaining why the Panthers performance in the first couple periods was a bit off from like the sloppiness and the rust and also that recalibration because I thought they looked like an entirely different team. And I'm not sure how much of that was, you know, them being able to sort of just one track mind. protect the lead. How much of it was, I think there was a bit of maybe Oilers fatigue because they were leaning on their top guys quite a bit, particularly for like very concentrated shifts, right? You and I were noting how it felt like McDavid was just taking these extended shifts where he'd be out for like multiple sequences in the offensive and defensive zone and then occasionally it was getting caught by the, by the Panthers rush going the other way, trying to take advantage of him being cast.

Yes. I think it seemed like that was something where they're thinking to themselves, okay, McDavid's going to take these long shifts and we think we have an opportunity going the other way. Obviously, that resulted in their first goal. Yeah. Getting out cleanly on the breakout. I also love how that goal, I think, well, I think there's two things that are worth noting on it. The first is the puck goes deep and Bobrovsky comes out to handle it.

And having seen his giveaway to Zach Heiman, you know, a minute into the game, I wonder if the Oilers forwards were like, okay, then we actually have to. applied down ice pressure with some urgency. Let's get three guys below the dots. Especially because this guy seems to be hot potatoing it. And look, it kept happening, right? It happened at the end of the second. Remember, he came around the boards.

He didn't stop it. Dricidal, came brought out front, nearly scored as well. And that would have been a backbreaker for Florida. Like, it's been happening all postseason with them. I keep joking about how, like, on these one-on-one against the shooter, he just looks so good. And he sort of tweeted the meme, like the big dog. And then all of a sudden, when he has to go out and play a puck,

it's like just an absolute disaster. It hasn't really bit them yet in terms of goals against, but it certainly is playing with fire. Yeah. Well, and so, you know, I think they actually pushed down ice in part motivated by having identified that. And, you know, it's a good reminder, like, as fast as McDavid is, as much as he moves at warp speed, against the elite of the elite in this league, if you have a couple steps on a guy late in a shift, even Connor McDavid's not closing that gap. You know, like that play, I think, is worth keeping in mind.

It's just like a back in the napkin rule that even McDavid with the tank empty isn't necessarily catching Barkoff. Yeah, I thought Ray Ferraro did a good job of noting how in the third period, as you'd sort of expect, when the finish line is like within shouting distance, there was just less space and it felt like everything was much more contested. I was surprised through the first two periods how much space there was in the neutral zone for both teams off of these counterattacks, right? Like, I mean, the Oilers most notably got, what, two or three breakways? I think three in total, the Panthers didn't get a breakaway, but they had a bunch of sort of like half ice down, two on ones or three on twos or even a four on two ones. And it was like, man, I'm just, I've gotten used to watching some of these playoff games where like you're battling for every square inch and you're like, oh, man, the next rush opportunity is going to be the first one we see in a period.

And it felt like those first 40 were just like back and forth in that regard where it's like wide open, expansive spaces of ice. And maybe it's because both teams are so aggressive in that sense of, like, pushing in the offensive zone to create some of those turnovers that if you get it past them, all of a sudden you're going to have a lot of real estate to play with. Yeah, it's interesting. The way both teams want to play, and certainly the Oilers, Forchak had a lot of success tonight, maybe more than it's had in any other series of this playoffs. You know, the Oilers attacking off the Russian, they really began to find space. Like, it's not even the breakways, but I'm talking about like that Warren Fogle wrist shot. attempt shortly after the power play expired, like sort of midway through the second, toward the end of the second, they started to generate off the rush almost at will the way

we're used to seeing them generate. But it felt like in the first 25 minutes as they were building up this massive and somewhat deceptive, in my opinion, edge in shots on goal. It was really their forecheck. It was Panther's sloppiness in some ways feeding the Oilers attack. We're used to sloppiness in the offensive end feeding the Oilers counterattack. or were used to the Oilers, you know, just off quickups from Bouchard and, you know, Broberg had the nice pass to Henrique to spring that breakaway.

So we saw some of it. But, you know, it felt like the Oilers from the first half were really generating more off of turnover. It's like almost playing more like Panthers hockey, which makes it ironic that the Panthers goal comes off of, you know, a clean breakout sort of more in line with what we'd expect from Edmonton based on how they've performed to this point in the playoffs. The shots on goal thing, I just want to talk about this quick. Yes.

Are you, are you, No, I'm, I'm afraid that this is just going to take up the rest of the show. And we've got other stuff to get on. But I think, I think that is sort of the story here, right? Because certainly it's on the screen, the entire game. I think a lot of the commentary, both from the broadcast itself,

but also online that you saw was, wow, Bobrovsky's stealing this one for Florida. You know, they're getting dominated. And listen, like, Edmonton certainly. got the better of the scoring chances, particularly on those last couple powerplay opportunities where as we spoke about in our preview, it was funny at the end of one of the periods, they started the power play. I think it was the end of the first, right? After the kind of like sloppy Vaggy penalty. And they had eight seconds left and we're like, all right. And the broadcast

was like, yeah, they have time for one shot here. They're trying to cook something up. And we're like, I think they have time for like three or four. And sure enough, they had multiple opportunities. It's just so taxing and you're almost like hanging on for dear life, like white. knuckle-le-again the entire time if you're the opposing P-K. The Panthers held up in terms of not giving up any goals against. I still think, though, when you go back and watch that tape, the Oilers should feel very happy about the way they move the puck on the power play and how they were getting Bobrovsky in these scrambling positions, right?

Off that rebound, Nugent Hopkins, I think, just misses the net, but it's about as clean of a look as you're getting, you have a yawning cage. As Sergey Bobrovsky goes full-on. Cartwheel, yeah. Oh, I was going to say Star Fox, like do a barrel roll. Yes. Full-on Star Fox mode. Also that Zach Hyman chance from in tight

That he skied just over the net Now you noted on the power play What was interesting was how much space They were affording Ryan Nugent Hopkins And then on the third power I said it was the second one So it was a bad pass Bouchard to Ryan Nugent Hopkins

Yeah Bad pass It was a pass that hit Ryan Nugent Hopkins That he had to collect before doing something In his case By no means I don't think Bouchard can send a bad pass I think it was just under pressure

Get the puck down But it took Ryan Nugent Hopkins a minute to gather it. A minute. A split second to gather it. Enough time that if it had been McDavid or Drysidal, it would have triggered the penalty killer to attack and try and force the turnover. And the Panthers, characteristically pretty aggressive penalty kill, afforded him space and time.

And he was able to gather the puck and the Oilers went about their business. And on that opportunity, they generated that Hyman look down low and sort of another one that didn't quite work. but was a pretty good quality look. And I sort of wondered, will Edmonton, given how smart all of those guys are, will they have noticed this and try to play through him a little more? And sure enough, on that third power play opportunity, if you go look at some of the buildup, like they went to it.

They went to it. So I don't know what Florida is seeing there. I think they're trying to sort of like tactically force him to be the initiator in terms of like where we want you to actually shoot here. Not that he has a bad shot, but if you're kind of picking your poison, I think where you can get into trouble is where he's more facilitating or playing off the puck off those rebounds

and kind of just lurking in the shadows. I think almost like featuring him as the quarterback in that sense is kind of an interesting wrinkle. I'm sure like all those guys are so good in Ryan Eugene Huckins in particular, as we've noted, never makes mistakes. So I think if you go back and watch that tape and then the Panthers try to do that again the rest of this series, I'm sure the Oilers will have better.

solutions are kind of like, all right, if we get this look again, this is what we're going to do. We also did see them run that same side, give and go between McDavid-Rendres. Which is, for my money, the coolest playing hockey right now. Like, it's just their chemistry and their ability, regardless of whose stick is in the way. Like, they're going to find a way to navigate around it. It's just, it's chef's case. They also ran one on one of their post-penalty kill shifts at five-on-five, and it was passed so early. it almost looked like a quarterback anticipating leverage.

You know what I mean? Like just like trusting your wide receiver to beat a linebacker or whatever. Like I like the coverage, so I'll go for it. And it was like a pass so early and weighted so perfectly. And it ended up with dry saddle trying to get a cross crease feed to Zach Hyman down low. Didn't quite work out. Maybe a shot resulted, but it was like pretty scrambling. But nonetheless, the drop pass or the down low give and go between those two at five on five.

and it was legitimately like passed into the spot that dry sidle would skate onto before it there there was any reasonable inclination that he was even moving in that direction i loved it you know what i think the natural next logical extension for the oilers if they get into a situation like we saw tonight where there's about six or seven minutes left you're down multiple goals you need to create something you haven't especially in that third period they went the first 15 minutes or so without like anything other than the one McDavid scoring chance, I want to see them almost double down on that. And just as much as I love Matthias Hecolm and what he does as a partner for Bouchard, just put Ryan Nugent Hopkins out there with the other loaded up top 5-on-5 unit

and just go four-forward as one defenseman in those spots. Because, I mean, not only are you going to just probably have the puck in the offensive zone most of the time because that's what those guys do, but also as we've spoken about, like, Newton-Hopkins is so good backtracking and being like the last man back and all that stuff that I don't actually think there's that much of a defensive liability. It's obviously not as good defensively as Matthias Echholm, but I think you can kind of fake it for a couple of those stretches. And I just love to see them sort of pressed out on that.

But I don't know, it felt like maybe just because of that usage, that entire unit wasn't, didn't really feel as dangerous down the stretch in that third period. And maybe it's just a testament to how well Florida defended that lead, right? I thought that was a pretty clinical defense by them in the third. Like they had multiple shifts where they were just leaning on Edmonton. in the offensive zone and kind of cycling the puck and just killing McDavid-Drey-Sidal shifts 40 seconds at a time doing so

and that was really cool to see. That was their best 15 minutes. The last 15 minutes of the game was far and away Florida's best stretch of the contest. I mean honestly that only that one sequence where Ekblatt I think thought there was going to be an icing and McDavid just kind of skated around him and then that led to a scoring chance about 10 seconds later. That was the only good look I thought Edmonton got in that entire third period.

And so, you know, kudos to Florida because in that spot like down two goals, Well, Edmonton's usually at least buzzing around, and they weren't really doing that thing. Well, and they had that whole minute with, you know, 4.30 left on the clock or whatever, and you almost wonder if McDavid's able to get loose and carry the puck and they get set up and they start to do their retrieval thing and get you spin in, I mean, does Noblock go for an aggressive goalie pull there? Like, how different does the game look, right? You kill that shift. The next group, like the McLeod line doesn't necessarily gain, like, full possession down low. the way you'd feel comfortable. Goalie doesn't get out to like two and a half minutes.

Yep. I mean, that's a huge two minutes exhausted without generating a major look. You know, Panthers, Panthers defense finally came to play late. And not that they're, again, so this is where I think the 11-4 or whatever it was shot total in the first period. I think it ended up being 14-4 once they double-checked it. Because, you know, how shot totals are in the gambling age, right? They're up and down. They're vacillating as the game goes along.

And I think what people missed a little bit, or at least the commentary missed a little bit, was when McDavid is on the ice, teams entire bandwidth, everything they're doing, is designed to make sure there's multiple, ideally three, layers between him and the net at all times. And you know what's going to happen when that happens? you're going to get out shot. Like you're going to get out shot because you're not focused on if we win it here,

we break out like this. Like, it's, you're selling out to prevent, you know, this atomic bomb hockey player from exploding on you.

And that was the major driver in the first period anyway of some of the crooked shot tolls we saw, like that and the power play. McDavid was on the ice for nine of 14 Oilers shots after 20 minutes, right?

Now, Edmonton is still outshot, the panes, in the other minutes, but not by a massive, you know, they're dominating. The deserve to win a meter says it's 96% oilers. Right. Not to that extent. And in fact, for much of the first frame, I thought the non-McDavid minutes looked

really ugly for Edmonton. Like the Panthers kept them pinned far too frequently at their own blue line. I thought they did a creditable job against McDavid, especially early in the game. There were definitely scoring opportunities. They weren't flawless. They gave up the Henrique breakaway in that stretch of game. They gave up the McDavid rush chance in that stretch of game. But I thought they did a pretty good job of limiting Edmonton's looks.

And then I thought they did a phenomenal job of just completely bottling up Edmonton's second and third pair on the breakout. Like Edmonton just could not get moving. And this once again sort of brings us to, you know, the Canucks conversation that we'd been having in the lead up to the series, which is that when Edmonton doesn't ice their fastest possible lineup, you know, and with Derek Ryan out of the lineup, you're not doing it. Certainly, you know, with Cory Perry, who I didn't think had a bad game by any means, although didn't he finish as their low man in five-on-five ice time?

So I don't think Noblock failed to recognize it. But, you know, it's not on him. Like, it's not about Corey Perry's individual performance. It's about the idea. It's about the style. Yeah. It's about the fact that with the personnel, that Edmonton has on the ice with their second and third pairs,

especially if they're self-matching Bouchard and McDavid with the discipline that they always are, right? Speed up front helps protect, you know, helps protect the Oilers defenders in non-McDavid minutes, and man, it makes a huge difference. It just felt like for too much of the evening, they weren't finding consistent simple solutions to exit their zone with speed. And I think that allowed Florida to dictate,

at least early on, you know, up until the point where the game was two nothing, allowed Florida to dictate the pace of the entire contest, even as Edmonton was getting better scoring opportunities. Yes, yeah, we were noting how I think Florida would certainly prefer for as much sort of chaos in terms of back and forth and events happening. And that's a bit of unfamiliar territory, I think, for Edmonton, because, you know, maybe against Dallas, they wanted to, like, manage it a little bit better. you don't want to necessarily play the way you did in game six against them,

but certainly the first two rounds of this postseason, I think the Oilers were very firmly in the position of, we want to just be the aggressor and take it to this opposition because they want to kill time without anything happening, and we are going to take it to them. And this, I think they still want to do that against Florida ideally, but I think they need to do it in a more careful manner because Florida is so good at turning these little miscues or breakdowns

into scoring chances, and I think that's what we saw tonight. Let's take a break here. And then when we come back, we'll jump right back in. We'll keep chatting about what we saw in game one. You're listening to the Hockey P.D.O.cast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network. All right, we're back here in the Hockey-Pedocas with Thomas Drans. We are chatting on this Saturday evening after game one of the Stanley Cup final. I love this because you and I have slightly different approaches, I guess, to when we do shows.

Like, you're certainly watching as much of this stuff as I am, but you're kind of coming in and you're freewheeling it, right? You've got this ability to sort of work off of your memory. and just like go and kind of go on tangents and go back and forth. For me, I much prefer to like go back and rewatch it, dig into the numbers, kind of wonder why some things look the way they did, write down all these notes, and then just have an odd couple approach.

We do have an odd couple approach. But what I love about this is we are literally recording, like just let's give them a peek behind the curtain. We finished the game. We crushed the pizza because we needed a little sustenance, right? And then we just got into it right now. So I haven't had really had a chance to even look at the numbers necessarily. Certainly haven't had a chance to rewatch it.

Maybe it'll make for a fun thing because I think after game two, we're going to do a similar thing, right? Where we record right after the show, we'll try to post it right away. And then maybe in the day off in between, we can do like a kind of like an eye test in terms of night of reaction and then more a sober look the next day where like I rewatch it and have a chance to actually do my usual process. But just going off of it, I felt like...

So this is your buzzer column take. Yes, it is. But I'm not really rushing to file it, you know? Yeah, yeah. We can have some fun with this. for me, I thought Barkaw was sensational tonight. And if you just look at the box score

in terms of his on ice metrics, right? I think around 12 minutes or so head to head 5-1-5, McDavid got the better of him from a shots and chances perspective, right? Even though the only goal scored was that one set up by Barkaw. This is exactly why.

But that's exactly what you were saying right before we went to break where a lot of these sequences were him being glued to McDavid and the Oilers having territorial possession in that way and getting some shots. thoughts, but it never really feeling like, I mean, there was a bit scrambling opportunities where you're like, oh, that was, you know, that balance could have gone a different way, and that's kind of

the dangerous game you play with when you give a team possession time like that. But for the most part, it was like, man, he was in his hip pocket. I thought he was disrupting a ton. Some of the stuff he was doing in vintage Barkoff fashion around the defensive zone blue line where like he would just challenged Drysidal on the PK once. I think Blouchard wants just knock it away from them, clear the zone. Clear the zone twice. This is just, this is the stuff that he does better than anyone. and it was on full display in this game. So that was the first Oilers Power Play opportunity in the first. Not even the, yeah, not the late one because they only had eight seconds of that in the first.

And look, I don't want to use something like that set the tone because I actually thought the Oilers power play adjusted really well. But Drysiddle was a lot lower in the zone after that. Yeah. I mean, honestly, the way that like the character on the Islanders Fish Sticks Jersey, right? Barcoff's just out there harpooning Pucks away from attacking players Like that moment where he smacked the puck Away from Dryside'll clear the zone

In the first period on the penalty on the penalty kill That looked so Panarin versus Barkov From the Eastern Conference final like carbon copy Yeah I swear if we cut the two videos Of Panarin in game six You know making 18 extra deeks

Just to like take a low percentage wrist shot through Barkoff That's how much it was in his head it would look the same. Like it would look fundamentally the same. And I do think that matters. Like I do think that matters a bit. You know, later when, you know, the play moved to the other side of the ice and the oilers began to generate more.

Like it was, and the oilers moved so much. But it was really Ryan Nugent Hopkins more playing up that high with less pressure on him. You know, Drysidal was more, spent more time in his shooting spot as opposed to when they go dry-sidal Bouchard, McDavid up high, and then, you know, McDavid loops around and the inner, like, it felt a little more static. It still looked dangerous. It still generated a ton of opportunities. You know, in fact, the Oilers power play probably deserved a couple tonight based on the

looks that they were getting. So I don't want to oversell the job that Barkoff did, but just those little, like, who is going to make this Oilers power play, this Goliath bleat? Barcoff kind of at least inflicted a flesh wound in that first period. Yeah, I mean, I think he's certainly in command of some of this stuff in a way that is just so cool to watch. Such a calming presence, right? Like, he's just able to control large swaths of ice. Yeah, and he's like, and a couple backtracks where he would knock a puck down and sort of stifle a promising rush for Edmonton.

I thought regardless of whatever his shot show was for the night, I could honestly, I could take it or leave it because I just thought just from watching it, he was phenomenal. Yeah. I will say, though, and he was, it's not invaluable by any means. I think the Ryan Nugent Hopkins breakaway that he got seemed to me at least on an initial glance to be kind of like a bit of a lapse in attentiveness by him, which is very uncharacteristic where like that probably was his guy and Nugent Hopkins was able to skate into it and beat him quickly like that. It happens.

I just thought like the totality that was impressive. Now, what's interesting is, I'll let you jump in here in a second. But we've spoken about how, especially in this series, but really this relates to pretty much any postseason matchup between two really good teams. It'll come down to whose best game is better and then also whether you're quickly able to force your opponent

to play uncharacteristically. And I don't know if we necessarily saw that tonight, but like the first Panthers Power Play, for example, it was interesting to me that like after a minute, I think there was a stoppage and Paul Maurice was quick to get the second unit on and I think

that was an acknowledgement. I might just be over like kind of like putting too much talking through this, but it certainly felt like it was an acknowledgement of if the Oilers killed us off, we know that McDavid and Dreisital and Hyman are going to be the first guys over the boards for a 5-1-5 shift. And sure enough, as soon as that happened, Barkaw was right back out there. And it felt like that was sort of a preparation for that. And it was interesting in comparison to how the Oilers run this stuff where they're going

to give them the full two minutes. I think in pretty much every one of those power plays, they were out there until like maybe for a minute and 52 seconds or so of each two-minute power. hour play. And so that was interesting. Not that it's necessarily like a deal breaker or a deciding factor here, but just in terms of like you could see how aware Florida was, I think, in their preparation of what was in front of them and kind of how they were doing these little things to ensure that they could get those matchups, I think as much as they could, that they'd be comfortable with at least. So just looking it up quickly because I think you're making an interesting observation.

And I do think we need to contextualize it by noting that the Panthers do run their union. It's a more for sure with a more balanced approach. Not just than the Oilers, but then a lot of NHL teams. So the impact might be a bit muted, but I still think you're on to something here. The gap between the Oilers fifth and sixth highest ice time, five on four guy, is four minutes and 56 seconds or 54 seconds. Out of a possible six minutes. Yeah. So effectively a five minute gap.

Yeah. And the difference between like the same five and six. They ran-five and six is two seconds. Yeah. Yeah. Two seconds between Barkov and Rodriguez. So, so, and also that tells you, Barkov's the first guy off. Yeah.

That's what I was interesting too. And I actually thought that was a pretty promising, right? Like, I think Reinhardt got that look or Ryanhart set up for Hagee off that bumper play. And then all of a sudden, on the face off, they're like, you know what, we're getting him off because he's going to have to jump back on in a minute here. Yeah. And so I thought that was kind of interesting, the game within the game a little bit. Yeah.

Well, and I thought there was a lot of it. And I think there are some thoughtful approaches that Paul. Maris and the Panthers showed us in terms of how to now I want to use I don't want to use a word like exploit right because you're never exploiting McDavid you are the exploited one like don't don't get a twist of you're just trying to balance the seesaw as much in your favor as you can acknowledging that no matter what you do it'll never be fully on your side right exactly you're just trying to hit the you know there put it this way there is no like narrow ventilation hole on the Death Star when it comes to playing McDavid.

However, he does take long shifts. And it did look like the Panthers tried to counter aggressively whenever they were able to turn the puck over after he'd been on the ice for a long time at 5 on 5. He is coming back at you with 29 after the Oilers spectacular penalty. Kill off whatever, they're 31st in a row or something like that's supposed to season. Not just kill it off. Like, I thought they were stifle. They were brilliant to me. I mean, as, it's so weird because we grade every penalty kill that does the job against Edmonton's, you know, monstrous power play on a curve.

And it's like, wow, the panther. But the Panthers had nothing five on four. Like it was, anyway, the Oilers crushed it on the PK. And you know that right after that PK ends, they're coming at you with Drysidal and, you know, taking an approach to try and mitigate that while still giving. Barkov at least a minute to try and make a difference or at least 45 seconds to try and make a difference on your power play opportunities. I mean, I think that serves Florida well. Like, I think that I think they, I think they showed evidence of like real thought in how to just do the best to tilt the scales as much as possible. And still you saw that at times no matter what the best

laid plans or whatever, the saying is just gets thrown out the window because, I mean, a couple time, Zach Hyman, if in case you're wondering, like, all right, like, is you just standing in front and scoring goals? You could see a number of times kind of like around the faceoff dot where the Panthers felt like they're like, all right, we're out of trouble, we're going to try to clear it. And all of a sudden, Zach Hyman just like tied someone up or won a 50-50 battle and kept them in the zone. And that's why I say it's a bit of a slippery slope because on the one hand, I felt like for the most part off of the in-zone sequences 5-1-5. When it was McDavid Barcove, I felt like the Panthers would take that and feel very comfortable with what they were

giving up, but also if you put yourself in that spot, I think you're kind of making yourself more vulnerable or susceptible to those plays coming back by you, not to mention a random bounce off a stick or someone's body winding up in the net, which obviously didn't happen during Babrovsky's game on shutout, but I think it's more likely to happen if you're living by that kind of like slippery slope type of approach defensively, right? So I think that's someone to watch. I also will say, like, it didn't burn them, but there were at least four or five times in this one where Ekblad had a chance to just clear the zone and just was unable to do so.

And one of my sort of X factors heading into the series was if the Oilers would be able to make him the one to go back and retrieve Pucks because usually Forzing's been doing a good job of covering for him this postseason by being the first guy to make that play. And in this one, I thought they did a good job with kind of exposing him in that way

and creating some turnovers off of that. So I think that'll be something to watch. But yeah, I mean, that head to head between those two guys. there were a couple shifts in the third period in particular where they were just kind of like, Barcove was leaning on him in the defensive zone. And I was like, this is what it's all about, right? The Stanley Cup final, offense versus defense, these two guys just trying to create any sort of separation between each other.

And it's just a really sort of satisfying thing to see play out. Yeah. And I'd add that the Oilers all around speed gave Eckblad, but other Panthers defensemen trouble as well. Yeah. Like I thought some of what we saw off of the rush came against, for example, Ekman Larson and Kulikov. Yes. Right.

Ten minutes together as a pair, one five on the shot clock for or shot counter, excuse me, from a panther's perspective. So the Oilers were able to find a lot of space behind like all three of the less fleet of foot Panthers blue liners, which, you know, I think is something to watch for as we go through the series. Now, that said, we are now, what, 35 minutes into talking about this? Yeah. And it's time to talk near Sisi, I think. I mean, heading into this on Friday, right, we had a show and we're like, okay, this is what they're rolling on in practice.

I wonder if it's a bit of a sort of red herring or kind of like just throwing it out there. I hope it's a bit. And then they came out, and sure enough, they started the game together. They were on the ice for two more goals against. I think both were very sort of fitting for the type of miscues they've had so far this postseason in general playing together. And I think they kind of highlighted why it's such a troublesome pair, why they can't really work together.

And there were a few plays. I mean, man, I had to stop and rewind to show you the CC sort of D to D pass that he threw at Bouchard, which was like a live grenade from about, I'd say, seven or eight feet between each other behind the net. and it just like went through Bouchard skates because he was almost blown away by the fact that that actually happened. And there were just a couple.

Like there was the, what was it, the high stick in the neutral zone that T.C. got called for. But it was with, I don't remember if it was McDavid or. Yes, but it just killed what could have been something promising. Yeah, well, and if you just leave it,

literally there's a forward skating into space onto the pot. He's a cartoon character. He cannot help himself. Like everyone, he can play 65 to 70% of the game where nothing notable happens. And I think for any defenseman, but in particular one like him,

you're just going to take that and you're going to be like, yes, I just want him to fly under the radar and not do anything obvious. And then all of a sudden, the mistakes that pop up are just so cartoonish. Like, he just cannot help himself. And I think we saw that in this game.

I mean, the way he played, and listen, amazing play by Bennett, right? Goes in aggressively. Yes. And then with one touch, essentially, gets it back out into the slot. And it's like, that is a next level play. but also as a defenseman,

you cannot allow him to essentially just walk into that and take the puck from you that cleanly. Like you need to either get the puck or tie him up and C.C. didn't either. And that's just unacceptable this point of the season. He's got out competed. Yes. Like until that moment, it's a one-shot game.

Yep. And it's a one-shot game because you guys got beat clean off the rush. You know, like that's problematic to me. And then it's compounded there. the nurse cc pair i mean 1214 is or 12 to 4 is a number you're going to hear a lot here um certainly they didn't the goals against this this postseason right 12 to 4 is there as they've been outscored yeah and and so that's a number you're going to hear a lot and you should like yes there's you know it's not even like this is one of those where people are like yeah i mean

they've gotten results but right they're getting killed they're getting killed yeah Ray Ferrardo is so good because he, I think he said, like, yeah, they've been, I think he called it a mess, which is like pretty aggressive for a broadcaster to call out in the game. And that's why Ray is the best and deservedly so. I think this pair deserves to be referred to as a mess. But he's like, they've been a mess. They've been a mess tonight. And I think the Oilers might need to make an adjustment. And I was like, yes, they do.

Well, and we knew they would. Yeah. We knew they would. Like, at this point, at this point, you know, there's a, there's like an old maxim. in sports talk radio that's like what you want to do is tell them what you're going to say, say it,

and then tell them what you've said. Right, right? And, you know, with the nurse CC pair, it's like you see them at practice and it's like, okay, well, I know how this is going to end. Then it ends the way we expect.

And then everyone talks about how it ended the way we expect and will the oilers do the obvious. And then when they do the obvious, we're all going to say, knoblock, great adjustment. That really paid off. But why have they started every series

going back to this? Yes. At some point you don't get credit for adjusting to the thing we know kills you. Yeah. You know? The other part of it was Broberg on the right side. Right. They're doing this in, like, I think they're putting Broberg on the offside in service of enabling them to keep that pair.

And I mean, obviously the worst part of it is allowing that pair play together because we just saw like they were on the ice and directly responsible. But then it has like a cascading. Yeah, it's like a snowball effect of, oh, now we're also forcing this young defenseman who has played a couple games here in a lot. but didn't play for an extended period of time and doesn't have much experience at this level to play on his offside in the Stanley Cup final. And it's like, oh man, this is a... And I thought Broberg played really well.

I thought in particular when he didn't, as you noted, like there were a few times where you could see the offside thing hamper him. When he got into space, there was one time he just like cleanly skated it out. There was another time where he set that stretch pass to, I believe, Yanmark to set up Henmark. It was kind of like a bumper play in the center ice.

I was like, this is exactly what I was hoping to see. from him because he actually has this skill set to facilitate some of these breakouts against this forecheck. But the issue is that you're also kind of forcing him, putting him into harm's way where you're not really allowing him to succeed because he's going to have these plays where he's on his offside trying to control a puck that's balancing crazy behind his net against the most aggressive for check in the league. Like, what do you expect this is going to happen?

And so I really hope that for their sake they revisit this in a day off between games. Yeah. And like common sense and rational thinking. prevails because I really do not see an argument for why you would continue going down this road. So I'd add to the thing I always look for with D who are playing on their offside to see if they can do it or not. And by the way, like I've seen some of the most skilled defensemen in the world struggle to play their offside. Like Quinn Hughes isn't particularly good at it naturally. I'm sure if he did it for a thousand minutes, he'd be amazing by the end of it. But the one thing

and Broberg did this a few times where they like try to switch places with their partner because they're more comfortable exiting in an environment where you don't have to almost like make a pass from behind you. And Broberg had like spacing issues on occasion while keying the breakout and he like still made it work. It wasn't, it didn't harm them at any point. But he'd be too close to Kulak while trying to exit the zone in part because he wants to make the play where it's more comfortable for him. And then more sort of painfully for the Oilers, there was that sequence in the first period where the Oilers are actually pressing and it's kind of a slowly rolling puck comes back to him and he kind of has to play it on his back hand.

And it's out of the zone and then it's offside. And then that's a possession killed. Yeah. So there were a few things that didn't work with the Oilers Blue Line. And I think it's unfortunate, especially because as for us, for us, for us, for us, As I'm sure the Oilers will be with this result, I mean, Evan Bouchard was maybe the best skater on the ice tonight. I mean, and exactly all this stuff we've sort of, we've been highlighting, right? It was like knocking pucks down to the blue line to keep them in, quickups to McDavid to facilitate rush opportunities.

In complete command. Just in complete command and just leaning on you in the offensive zone in particular. I thought it was an unreal performance a few times kind of dancing around and creating shots. I know that he got a bunch of shots blocked and stuff. That'll happen. But I think, like, just how odd it he was and what he was creating. It really showed you if you're still kind of, like, wondering, if you're the last person on Earth right now that's like,

I don't know, is Evan Bouchard actually as good as the number suggests? You watch that game, and I think you get a definitive answer that, yes, he is that good. He played with so much authority. Yeah. You know, I like the way that he occasionally skates. Like, he's kind of passed first despite the fact that he's such a goal threat. Yeah. But, you know, the way that he's.

He'll skate with authority on entries. On the regroup, he's got to be one of the best in the league. I mean, he is sick, and it felt like he had that game on a string, and, you know, the Oilers just weren't rewarded for it. I guess one final topic, we've got to talk to Brovowski, right? No. Yes, we will, but I thought you were going to say we've got to talk Etu Lusiridin, who you mentioned how Bushard was the best player in the game in the aggregate.

I think he was from start to finish. Third period. I thought Lus Sierreinen was a masterclass. Doing a lot of the stuff we said of him, Lundell, Teresenko would just go out there and just have a 50-second shift in the offensive zone that would just kill the Oilers, created a couple opportunities,

one from behind the net, one off the rush to Reinhardt when they kind of mixed and matched lines, and then got rewarded, sealing the game with the empty net goal. And I think wound up grading out as their most sort of impactful player, both in terms of 5-1-5 metrics,

but also just overall contributions. And so I really thought he was phenomenal, And it felt rewarding because we sort of highlighted that line as needing to be a difference maker against Edmonton's bottom six in this matchup. And I think that's exactly what we saw. Even though they didn't score at 515, I thought if you keep getting performances like that from them, you have to feel good because you know that the top six itself is going to get some looks themselves. And so, yeah, I just wanted to shout him out. Now we can do Bobrovsky. But I couldn't in good conscience do this show without shouting out who I thought was Florida's best skater.

Yeah, fair. Just I thought Skinner was good, despite what the numbers were. tell you? I did too. I mean, how many shots did Florida finish with like 17 or 18? They definitely blow 20, right? And for a large part of the game, they were like in the low teens. How much do you think this was like PDO karma for the Oilers for the way they eliminated Dallas? I just think, I've seen people make that reference. I mean, this game was nothing in terms of nothing close to what that game was in terms of how one-sided it was. It wasn't a smash and grab. fundamentally. But But Brovsky still saved.

He made, I mean, he stopped three breakways. Yeah. And he didn't give up a goal against. Like, it's about as good of a goalie performance as you're going to get. He did a barrel roll. He did a barrel roll. He, yeah, style points through the roof. Yeah. Degree of difficulty in a couple of these saves. I will say, I mean, easier to than done, of course, particularly for fourth line players at this point. But if you're going in alone against him and you're trying to beat him five hole or roll the puck along the ice, you may as well just dump the puck into the zone and go off the ice and go for a change because that you're going to get the same result. Like, I just, I don't know. I don't know if it's not just not in their capability. Like, at least Ryan Nugent Hopkins tried to do something.

You tried. Yeah. And you get in too tight and you just can't lift it. It happens. But a couple of the other ones. And the broadcast was like, I don't know if they're doing this on per, like, by design, if they like scouted something, I'm like, I don't know what they would have scouted to think that's the way to be Probrovsky because I could tell you right now,

that's certainly not going to work. That's like someone telling you, go low on prime Jonathan quick. Yeah. Yeah. No. No, you want to get them moving. No. No, I mean, I think Ryan Nugent Hopkins was trying to go.

Yes. Backhand shelf. It's just you get yourself into a position. It's a hard shot. So, Popovsky was great. Popovsky was great, but the Oilers also missed on some of their best opportunities. I think it's, I think we are so used to talking about the goals that don't happen from the perspective solely of the goaltender. And I don't think we spend enough time talking about the shooting side of it.

Yeah. The role that actual quality conversion, because that also comes and goes. Like that's also, but they interact, right? Like, at the end of the day, one team's shooting percentage versus the goalie save percentage. They're opposing goalie save percentage. Like, there's an interaction there. And Bovrovsky was phenomenal tonight. And I thought oilers shooters were wasteful with their opportunities.

Not a lot different from what happened with Skinner and Dallas, where Dallas just kept missing. glorious opportunities. And then Skinner's going to have a low save percentage coming out of this game. And what's he going to do on either of those goals? I thought he actually stood really tall. I thought he had a really quiet, solid game. So in control these days, Dimitri. Yeah, he's just so in control of these.

I actually did think, like, for the most part, he made a couple saves there to at least keep this manageable for Edmonton, and it could have easily been, I thought, a three or four goal game at some point. Listen, I struggle talking about games like this, because I certainly don't want it to come across as being like, no, Sergey Bobrovsky wasn't good because that's not the truth. Like he was excellent. And I think if he plays this well, Florida's going to have a, like beyond obviously the shutout,

like he's going to give up goals. If he plays this well, like Florida is going to have a very good chance of winning this series or winning the Stanley Cup. I had scoring chances at 5-1-5 in this game 11-11. Right. Now, Edmonton got like six or seven scoring chances to just won by Florida. in terms of the power plays respectively, and I think that's where, like, the difference lies in this.

But I've already seen a few, you know, expect the goals models or kind of things like this. And it just, I don't know how you can watch that game and come away with that lasting impression. Certainly, if Edmonton gets these types of looks in game two, they are not going to get shut out. I feel pretty confident in saying that, like they're going to break through and score some goals.

But I just don't think it was nearly as one-sided or an equivalent to game six, what happened to Dallas. as this. Like, Edmonton should feel good about the way they played. And if they can repeat this in game two, they're going to have a chance to win that game and kind of, you know, get the split here heading back home. But also,

like Florida did a lot of stuff here that I think was by design and also gave them some trouble. And it wasn't just nearly this. All right, let's just hope the Brovsky bailes us out. I think Nobloc's a really smart guy. I think if he comes out of this game thinking we just have to keep doing what we're doing and we're going to break through and dominate the series,

I think that would be a mistake. and I don't think he will. Like, I don't think he'll come out of that thinking that what the oilers wanted they were able to get. I don't think he'll come out of it thinking he can just impose, they can just repeat that performance and their will will have been imposed on the Panthers. And vis-versa, I don't think Paul Marisa will come out of that game thinking, oh boy, we smashed and grabbed one. Like, you know, I think he'll come out of that game and think, you know, a lot of what we wanted to happen did, and we got to our game late. and that's something we can build off because we do need it to look more like it did in the third period, but there were still elements throughout the night that we were pretty happy with.

No, there were. I think one thing they need to fix is we've spoken about how they've been much more diligent in terms of not taking down penalties and on call for stuff and being more disciplined. I thought both had been it, but certainly the Boreighi one were just like, there's no need for that. And that's why they're very lucky, I think, to get away without giving up any goals against because they were dangerous opportunities for Edmonton and suing after that. So there's certainly stuff to work on here.

I think this is going to be a phenomenal series. Like if this game was any taste of it, especially since we're like, oh, they're both kind of nervous and maybe rusty after a week off heading in, and this is what that version looks like. I think we're in for a treat of a series. So I'm really looking forward that.

Hopefully people will come along for the ride with us here as well. Hopefully enjoy this show listening during the weekend. We'll be back on Monday night. You and I here on the PDA guest feed. After game two, we're going to try to get that posted right away so people can listen, and we're going to go from there. Tom, This is great. Thanks as always.

We'll see you soon. See you Monday, buddy. Yeah, see you Monday. Thank you to the listeners for listening to us. And we'll be back soon with plenty more of the HockeyPedio cast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network.