The Hockey PDOcast - What We Saw in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance to break down everything they saw in Game 3 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.

dressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. The hockey Pediocast. My name's Demetri Filippovich. And joining me is my good buddy, Thomas Drans. Tom. We are recording fresh off the final buzzer of game through the Stanley Cup final. After game two, falling short of our promise to record right after the game.

We did it the next morning, of course, and I think people still enjoyed it. We're coming to you live pretty much, right? Like, the game just ended. We haven't really had a chance to dig into the numbers. certainly having a chance to rewatch, and I'm excited about it because I really enjoyed when we did it after game one. You know what?

This was such an odd game from a flow perspective, right? You know, just as Edmonton felt like they were back in it, it was kind of their game seven. We all know the score in the event Edmonton loses, as they did ultimately. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert.

And then. the Panthers just took advantage of a series of breakdowns. You know, Skinner mishandling a puck, Sam Bennett, really creating a goal on the forecheck. And both of those goals with the down ice pressure and the stress that they put under, put the Oilers under, felt like a really solid microcosm of what the series has been. And, you know, to a large extent, in my view, there have been moments of Panthers' dominance. Yep. But it hasn't been, like, with the exception of game, too, obviously, it hasn't been, like,

sustained dominance. The Oilers have been able to do some good things on occasion. They've been able to carry play in some moments, but they've had no answer for the stress game that the Panthers are able to apply, especially down ice. They haven't been able to get moving, you know, out of their own end consistently enough. And they haven't been able to attack off the rush with the discipline with which they've done all season, but like especially against Dallas, especially against Vancouver, especially against the LA Kings. You know, and there are opportunities to do it. Like we saw tonight, the Hyman Rush Chance, the Fogel goal, you know,

those looked like some parts of game one where, at least with Kulikov-Eckman-Larsen on the ice, right? The Oilers were able to attack some soft spots in the Panthers lineup. And, you know, you sort of come out of this game and it's like it wasn't as lobsided as it was at 4-1, but the Panthers' edges just matter. more where they exist. Like they have an edge where it matters most. And that's why they're up through nothing.

Now, I think it was 17 minutes or so left in the third period. It was 4-1. And you, I think kind of tongue-in-cheek, but also maybe seriously, suggested, hey, let's put this on mute and let's start recording this post-game show because it felt like there was a level of finality, I guess, to it, right? Especially those first couple minutes, nothing really happened. The Oilers scored the one goal that bounces in off Mikala. And then there was, and then I would argue.

hockeyest goal ever. But what's ironic is I would argue that between, like after that 4-2 goal for the next like seven minutes, it was about as clinical, uh, shutdown protecting the lead on the road performance as you're going to see. Like, the Oilers just could not string together two passes. They couldn't exit their zone. The Panthers were aggressively pinching along the walls, keeping plays alive, turning them back every single time.

And we were like, man, this is absolutely clinical on their part. Then they get the McLeod tip off the Kulak point shot. And then all of a sudden we finally got the dramatic finish that I think we've all been kind of clamoring for, right? Because the first two games, even though game one was pretty close in game three, right? It was one one heading into the third period. We were kind of deprived of like a dramatic finish

where the net's empty, you're hanging on, you're like, oh, what's going to happen here? And we finally got that. So even though Florida kind of salted her way and put this at a 3-0 lead for the series, we still at least got that. And I'm glad we waited to record until then. Killing the game with a 20-second rugby scrum along the wall

that prompted me while we were watching live to exclaim the beautiful game. It was the beautiful game. And honestly, an accomplishment on their part because we were noting that especially on the power play, what makes the Oilers so special? I know they haven't scored a power play goal in the series yet, but they're sustaining pressure because they win every single retrieval, every single loose puck, every single 50-50 puck, either Hyman or McDavid or Bushard keeping it alive, gets to it first. And so they usually come out ahead on those and like at least,

get it out front and get some sort of opportunity. And there was just none of that. Like essentially just the clock was just bleeding away and they were just leaning on it. And then that's all she wrote. Well, look, the Oilers top guys, like, there's dog in those top guys. I know they haven't come through in this series,

but the work rate's been there. The retrieval game has been there. They've even found some solutions to the Panthers pressure game. You know, I thought that tonight, like the power play, the Oilers power play, I thought had chances. You know, the dry-sidal chance, especially on their very first opportunity of the game, which, you know, McDavid's sort of feathering a cross-scene pass through the territory vacated by Barkov,

who was in the bench on the delay of game or in the box. As a result of the delay of game penalty. So, you know, I thought Popovsky made some great saves tonight. I actually thought tonight might be the first night that the headlines were really, like, hard-earned. I thought he made some excellent saves. I mean, that won at the end on McFarraf. on McLeod where McDavid goes behind the net, passes it out through the legs.

And actually, it went through Bobrovsky's legs, right? Which is good, because you're the most dangerous. He's the most dangerous Oilers attacker in that moment. And so to have it go through his five-hole

the right way. Right. That's actually awesome. And then to also get down and prevent McLeod from putting it back from whence it came. Yeah. That was also like such like a gymnastic save too, right?

Like that sort of like that wanted flexibility and down low. You just cut it off. It was really nice. Let's start with this. Because we're going to get through as much as we can of this game. I thought there was a lot for us to like chew on here, certainly. Can I just make one point before we continue?

Sure, as long as it doesn't, in our typical fashion, when you and I get together, one point leads to like a 25-minute diatribe about something random. Well, okay. There's nothing random here, though. You know what? Yeah, no promises. If you go check natural statric after the game,

you will see glowing, glowing performance. in terms of the all nice numbers for the Oilers' top pair. And I am here to tell you that Bouchard and Ecombe had a brutal game tonight. A brutal game tonight. I thought Bouchard had a couple of nice stretch passes to set up chances. Yep, he did. Along the way, like you mentioned that Hyman rush opportunity against Kulikov. That was like a nice stretch pass that cut through a couple guys.

So there was some of that vintage stuff that we've come to appreciate from his game. There was also he got hurried into a few mistakes, right? On the first goal, Barkoff pokes it away from him at the blue line. and sort of out-lostle-z-z-un. I don't even hold that against an attacking player. You get harpooned by Barkov. It's like, you know, fair play captain Nehap. It's a right-of-passage, yeah. Yeah, no, fair play captain Ahab. Like, you're a monster and your stick seems to be like an extendable stick relative to everyone else. Well, tonight is a good, good lesson of single game, like expected goals numbers in particular, right? Because if you look at that same page, you'll see that the standout performers for Florida tonight were their fourth line and Kulikov in particular.

And watching that game, it felt like, every single time Edmonton was creating something threatening, it was attacking Kulukov downhill. And that's really been the case for the entirety of the series whenever they've gotten out in transition. So, you know, take single game numbers of a grain of salt. That being said, the standout performance here for me, and I think what we need to focus on and kind of center at the start of the show

was Alexander Barkov's performance, right? Because after how game two ended, he sits out the final 10 minutes or so after taking what I thought was, you know, depending on your mileage on it, I thought Drys Eidal kind of took advantage of a vulnerable player. And it wasn't necessarily, I didn't think it was a suspendable hit. I definitely think it wasn't a coincidence. I thought he knew exactly what he was doing. And I thought, I went back and rewatched it after, like the full game.

And there were five or six instances on the power play along the wall and stuff where Barcov was just like all over him, taking the puck away from him, really just pressuring him. And I think that was like frustration boiling over. And so I don't think it was like, oh, this is just hitting a player and not really knowing who you're hitting. or what you're doing. Like, he was very calculated on that, on that end. We were happy to see Barkoff be healthy enough to come and play. And this is what's so beautiful about sports, right?

It's like, I saw a lot of questions along the way and the extra day off between games. Like, how's Florida going to respond to this? Are they going to try to push back physically? Are they going to do this or that? And the answer was, in very typical Sasha Barkoff fashion, he just came out and absolutely balled out. I thought in particular early on just took their lunch money, right? We saw that actually that head to head.

was kind of hard matched by design from the Oilers' perspective. They wanted to get Barkoff away from McDavid, so they went with Dreisdell's line. Now, we'll talk more about what Chris Knoblock did in putting Ryan McLeod and Corey Perry in particular on his wing and kind of how that sort of hamstrung or handcuffed Dreisdell along the way. But Florida got by far the better of that matchup. Barkov sets up the four-on-four goal, scores a breakaway goal,

had another great break himself where he went backhand and just missed the net, was winning battles every single step of the way, knock and pucks away in vintage fashion, won all of his draws. I mean, it was a masterclass performance, and this is why we watch sports, right? This is what it's all about, like, whatever sort of like pressure or adversity or resilience in terms of bouncing back from how last game ended, he essentially just channeled all of that into a dominant performance on the ice

and helped, in large part, win his team this crucial game. Well, and then he scored the game winner. Yep. I mean, and that was such a sick show of emotion from one of the most stoer. Him saying let's go is like euphoria, euphoria pictured in his face. It's everything, man. I loved the celebration. I loved the play, vintage Barkov.

And I loved even the shot of the Panthers bench, like the respect where everyone kind of knows he's going to score. You know what I mean? You can almost see the excitement before. And now a bench is going to get like that a lot of the time for a lot of break opportunities like that, but there's like a level of certainty with Barkov. brilliant, just a brilliant game from him. Played eight minutes head-to-head against Barcov,

or sorry, against McDavid and Drysidal all in. The Oilers had two shots on goal in those eight minutes, five-on-five. It's like... He's just killing everything. Like, it's just... Yeah. It's a roadblock that they just cannot get over. And this is, like, one thing I'm nervous about almost coming out of this series is...

People getting the wrong, wrong takeaways from Panther success. The idea of defense, a great defense, beats a great offense. Right. As if like the Oilers were giving up buckets of chances tonight, right? Which they weren't. No. I mean, the Panthers stress played.

Obviously that, you know, 90 crucial seconds that broke the game open, the Oilers would want to have that back. But, you know, I don't think the Oilers are playing poorly defensively by any means. And I think the Oilers defense has been phenomenal, really, ever since Knoblock took over, but especially leveling up in the playoffs. the key here is not that Florida represents defense and the Oilers represent offense, it's that the Panthers top gear at the top of their lineup are they are beating, they are winning that part of the matchup, right?

Now, again, the underlying numbers will tell you all of the control that the Oilers have had usually while trailing, but Barkov head to head against McDavid, Barkov and Forzling had to head against McDavid. Dude, Forzling was so good today. Listen, I know, I know it's on brand for me to go, but like, the plays he was making, just killing, like, in the third period, Hyman had that entry attempt off the rush. He looked very dangerous, and he just, like, swats it away, Matumbo style. Like, he literally stuff.

And he did it again, like 10 seconds later against another oilers entry attempt. Like, he was just blowing up every attempt that the Oilers had to enter with control. It was unbelievable. I mean, four on four, what, final minute? of the second period, right? I think it was a four-on-four sequence, and then, Eckblad winds up taking a penalty a bit later and if he gets a power play.

Four-on-four, I believe Ekholm gets it behind his net, and he pushes the puck up the wall and dry sidles hanging out at his blue line waiting for it. We've talked heading into this series about how the threat or specter of what Edmonton's capable of atop the lineup off the rush almost defeats opponents before anything even happens because they're so worried and cognizant of it that they lean back

and they allow them to then make plays in space. we wondered whether Florida would stick to their on-brand aggressive play. Well, in that instance, Forsling not only challenges him, but quite literally just stuffs Leon into a locker, just throws him into the bench, takes the puck away, they keep it in the zone. And it's like, there's just no other defender right now that's just so uniformly attacking at like critical points at both blue lines that way

with the timing and the aggression that he is. And so it was a phenomenal performance. I mean, you're seeing him, McDavid's going to get looks. he's still a nightmare when he gets a full head of steam in the neutral zone. I've counted at least five or six times in this series of five on five on five, where McDavid has actually dumped the puck in five on five against him, and I think that's the ultimate sign of respect, right? Like, who do you see McDavid not just challenge directly that way every single time? He's almost licking his lips being like, I'm going to school this defender,

and he's actually just dumping it in and trying to get the puck deep. And so it was just an exemplary performance. And I think atop the lineup, I think that you hit the nail in the head. Like, you're going to see what you want to see in these series when a team has success. everyone's going to try to push their own agenda and be like this is why they won this is what teams need to do to replicate the success if you're watching this and being like oh this is all just a goaltending and defense like conventional quote unquote defense you're just missing the plot i think you're missing the force for the trees with what makes florida so successful yeah and i mean they are doing some old school defensive stuff like one thing yeah some vagus stuff for sure yeah and well one thing that i think has shaped this that shaped game three especially was the, and I think it's shaped the whole series. Like, they're content to give Bouchard an uncommon amount of space up top, knowing full well that with the way that they're stacking the box, the way that they're just collapsing in front

of Brabowski, he's going to hit a body. He's going to hit a body. And they're standing and taking a lot of those shots away. And they're not taking them away, like, right at the stem of the shot. it's not because they're fronting Bouchard super aggressively up high. They're not even cutting off the top. They're letting him shoot into a thick and a body's. And he's not getting enough through.

Like he's not getting enough through. I actually thought the Oilers in the third, not that anything powered there, you know, I'm always reluctant to be like, I thought the Oilers found something when fundamentally the biggest reason that they got into the game was that Broberg put a shot two feet wide

that bounced off a player's elbow and into the net. But I did think the play, before that goal where Broberg intentionally missed the net. Just cycle the puck back down. Caused some stress. And then all of a sudden you see Bennett for maybe the first time we saw a game, one of Florida's most reliable defensive players, by the way, is kind of out of position fronting that Broberg shot,

which again, should have been a vacant miss. Yes. But at the very least, putting it wide and then having some down low action, at least created a little bit of havoc. And I do think you saw a little bit of that too on the, on the McLeod deflection goal, where, you know, that had been a key part of what the Oilers were sort of finding in that heavy shift was, you know, some high-low passing seemed to get Florida moving a bit, sort of triggered them a little bit to leave that very, very compact

defensive structure that they frustrated the Oilers with throughout this series. So that Blouchard-Ecomitop pair has attempted 56 shots combined in this series. they've gotten 19 of them on net. And I, in Bushart in particular, they keep citing the stat on the broadcast of how many of them have been blocked. I think similarly at Coleman has been sort of recklessly just blasting the puck.

I know he scored the four-on-four goal. That's obviously a different example compared to what we're saying here. But I think you hit the nail in the head there, right? The broadcast kept showing that stat of offensive zone time in this game. And certainly like heading into the series, you and I talked about the importance of that

for both teams. And so there is an element of that, like just having the puck in the offensive zone, good things will eventually happen. But also, you could see Florida was very comfortable, especially with their top players out there, right? With Barkov and Forslay and Ekblad, they're just setting up that vagus style from last year,

defensive box, and just daring them to hammer away. And Edmonton's been obliging for the most part. Like, for whatever reason, they just seem very willing to wind up and just shoot as hard as they can into a bunch of bodies and nothing is really being productive or coming as a result of it other than either a block that's kind of,

facilitating Florida leaving the zone or it entirely missing the net and then winding like looping around and then Florida getting out in transition as well. And so that's been an issue. And that's why I think we keep talking about this in all of these recaps. There's just not enough Broberg right now for my taste. Like watching this game, I just think his offensive instincts are shining through, right? Like just very kind of subtle stuff in terms of knowing where the puck needs to go getting involved in the offensive zone. It feels like good things are happening when he's on the ice. And I really want to see them if they're going to go down in this series. down 3-0, their backs against the wall, like as much as it's going to be right now heading to game four, give him a bit more ice time, especially with that top line and maybe with Bouchard as a partner and see if they can facilitate a bit more of that as opposed to just kind of playing right into Florida's hands in their defensive structure.

Yeah, I mean, they need to, I think it's pretty clear that they just need to max out the speed of their lineup up top. And we'll talk more about some of the lineup decisions, you know, that went into this game. because, you know, I don't think the, I don't think the, I don't think the oilers have set themselves up to break Edmonton's forecheck consistently enough, or sorry, the Panthers forecheck consistently enough. And I think it's been the major factor in this series. Like, it's been the part of this matchup that I think has most significantly shaped Florida's edge, which is just far too regularly, Edmonton can't get out of their own end. Well, especially, or out of their own way. Turnovers we saw in this game, right? Skinner going back to play the puck, having a bit of a miscommunication with Cece or Cece just being slow to kind of recover and get to the puck first, winds up losing that battle, results in a goal.

We saw a nurse turn it over. And I thought Kachuk finally in the series made like a vintage Kachuk play of spinning around and threading the needle for Bennett, who had a brilliant finish himself. That was like a beautiful level of skill on display from both. Great game for Sam Bennett. We got a note. We were laughing so hard because there was one scrum in the second period where Kachukuk. was involved with Kulak, right? Yeah.

And the camera's focused on that because that, like, there's the most bodies there. And then it was like almost the camera was in portrait mode. And then the background is kind of blurry. And you just see Sam Bennett on top of what we found out was Werenfogel. And we're like, he is going to kill that man. And then they showed the replay. And to his credit, I know the bar is pretty low to clear here. But I thought he actually showed pretty good self-restraint on it.

I think he, like, gave him one glove punch. And then that was it. and like restrained himself from like going all out and taking a bunch of dumb penalties or a major or anything or getting kicked out. He had another one with Perry earlier. He wound up getting a minor on that, but it was a kind of cool.

Yeah. So it wasn't a big deal. And it was kind of like a half punch, half face wash. Yeah. And we were joking about how, you know, that's the new discipline, Sam Bennett. Yeah. But it kind of was.

Like it honestly kind of was. It was a good amount of tough hockey with an amount of sort of liberties taken that you're never going to get penalized for in a game like that. So in this game, we saw the pressure that Florida applies directly result in the two goals that really kind of broke this game open. So, like, it's very easy to just point to that. But I think the bigger overarching theme of the series so far, especially after game one, has been

Edmontons. The reason why it's an issue for them, beyond the obvious of, like, just stopping and starting, is their best chance of creating offense in this series is getting out in transition. Yeah. Because I think that we've seen enough now that as good as that top line is, if Florida is able to get into their defensive shell, they're going to feel confident and comfortable that nothing's going to get through that. So they have to attack particularly that third pair and four or fine when they're out there off the rush and get out in transition. And the inability to like string

together passes exiting the zone is a direct sort of like link to why they've been unable to for the most part string together enough of those. They've been way too few and far between. I know that Edmonton's a bit more of a cycle possession team than a pure rush team this year. But still, I just think they need more of it if they're going to break through offensively in the series. Well, also, that might have been their MO in the regular season, but when they've looked best in the playoffs, when they've decided their games,

often it's been the rush. Well, it's the weak side defender joining three on two down the ice, and all of a sudden good things happen for them. And since these past two games, probably can count on one hand the number of times they've meaningfully threatened attacking downhill that way, especially at 5-1-5. And that's a credit to Florida for preventing that from happening.

because the three teams that played Edmonton previously all kind of failed to do so. Yeah. Well, and when you combine it with the way that the Panthers are killing cycle shifts in the defense's zone and the way that they're, you know, stacking the box and preventing Oilers point shots from, you know, whether they're getting through to Bobrovsky and resulting in goals, oftentimes what we see from Edmonton is they're so good on retrievals and they're so good at second chance. Like, there's none of that pressure being exerted by the Oilers off the cycle. It's a great defensive performance.

And Bobrovsky is backing it up too. But I do think that this Oilers team, when they've done the most damage throughout these playoffs, it's been a steady stream of, like, overwhelming rush chances. Not that that's their bread and butter. I don't think you can, like, sustain that as a principal mode of scoring. but you need to have more of it. And when the Oilers have, first period of game one, right, on occasion tonight, like in the second period,

in the first half of the second before the goal on Solver, Florida, I thought it was a really promising stretch of play for Edmonton beyond the focal goal. I was like, wow, they're leading on them in the offensive zone. They're actually getting some looks, and then that just quickly fell by the wayside. And the focal goal is a good example. They're just not getting enough of that,

and I think it's because their offensive attack is being cut off at the stem. Well, I think we've kind of gotten our answers to the question of whether Edmonton would be able to force Florida to fundamentally change the way they play. And the answer we're seeing is no. Even if they get burnt,

they're just going to keep pinching and sending guys deep in the forecheck and just being aggressive all over the ice, regardless of the score, really. And maybe if you can create a few more of those rush opportunities, you might at least cause some level of trepidation,

particularly lower in the lineup, to be a bit more cautious, particularly with guys like Mikala and Montour and Kulikov and OEL, like those two pairs, I feel like maybe you can get them to sag off a little bit if they're actually genuinely scared that you're going to just get a breakaway or a two-on-one against them. The issue is that we're just not really seeing that.

Like, they have no real reason in these past few games to feel that way, and so they're able to play to a T how they want to, and that's kind of driving their success. So I find that really interesting. before we go to break here and we're going to focus more when we come back from Edmonton side of thing in terms of the lineup adjustments you mentioned and kind of where we think they fell short a little bit,

shout out again to our guy, Etu Lister Renan, who set up that goal, the 2-1 goal, I believe. He's just playing so well. After that scare in game 2 after the knee-on-knee, he's been phenomenal. And you were sort of questioning or asking me, like, could he be a potential move Florida makes

down the road, whether it's this off season or in the future to, like, facilitate keeping for Hagee, Bennett, maybe even Wontour, because he's starting this pay-raised deal, right? Where I believe it's a three-by-three starting this next season. And I think we're getting our answer that, like, he cannot go anywhere because he is such a connector for this team. And Teresenko looks awesome in this series. And really, since he got put together with that line towards the end of the Eastern

Conference final, and I don't think that's by accident. I know he was playing with Barkall for a while, and it's like he's also a good player. a lot of this stuff. But man, playing with Listerina in particular, but also Lundell as well, it seems like a pretty good spot for a winger to just kind of hang out with them because they're just going to win every single battle and get you the puck. And so we saw that on that goal and I just think he's been phenomenal in this series. He's not going to get the highlight, like the attention for it because there's a laundry list of guys ahead of them. But man, if you're just kind of weighing where these two teams are kind of differentiating in this series,

think about it. Edmonton does not have a winger to play with Leon Dreis Eiddle. No. This guy on their third line wing is just absolutely feasting all over the ice. And at the end of the day, the top players have certainly been better for Florida and more productive, but also this is a leverage point for Florida that they've really been punishing them with. You've seen Edmonton and Noblock just kind of banging his head against the wall trying to find answers. And Florida hasn't had to make a single adjustment. They've just been rolling their same lines.

Their third line's been a huge mismatch in this series. and Luce Duranen for my money might be the single driver on that line. Okay, let's go to break here. And then when we come back, we'll jump right back into it, we'll talk about all the stuff that we haven't gotten to yet

from game three of the Stanley Cup final. You're listening to the Hockey-Pedocast streaming on the Sports Net Radio Network. All right, we are back here on the Hockey-O-Cast. Tom and I are going through game three of the Stanley Cup final. Tom, we were laughing at the start of the game. They showed Paul Marie's being introduced to a crowd,

and he gave us a little, work and thank you and wave to the to the booing audience and in general i mean we've talked about sort of all of his press conferences sound bites and kind of like how he's been charismatic along the way bench interviews his rapport with emily caplin on these broadcasts like just like rifting and going back and forth as if like two buddies doing a podcast like you and i right here just sitting on the couch it's honestly amazing i look forward to them now it's been awesome he seems like a coach that i mean he's obviously on a phenomenal job in this franchise's turn around these past two years, but also with the cards he has to play and the personnel he has, he seems like a coach

that is very understandably confident and comfortable with what he's working with, as opposed to Chris Knoblock, who at the risk of psychoanalyzing and stuff, every time they've been showing on the bench or doing these interviews, he seems very stressed out, and his team is down three nothing now. So I think he should be. The difference in demeanor between the two makes sense within the context of that. but the dynamic honestly is like knob locks like do you have a race car bed and Paul Maurice is like no I sleep in a large cozy bed with my wife he seems like he doesn't have the right personnel

and they've been able to gloss over it because they're top players like the depth just held up there into a bargain along the way and we sort of noted that in our preview and talking about them throughout It's just not getting bludgeon. But they just weren't getting bludgeoned. They were getting by, and that was enough because the top players and the power play, but just McDavid and Drysettel in particular and Bouchard were carrying them and able to kind of get over whatever deficiencies or liabilities they had along the way.

In this game in particular, I mean, we've seen it throughout the series, but in this game, which is our focus tonight, you saw a nurse have the turnover, and I know he's playing hurt, but I think this has been a recurring issue for him in this postseason with the number of goals he's been on the ice for. Cici had that misky we talked about with skin. winner. Corey Perry, I know he was involved in that cycle to led to the Broberg goal, right, behind the net.

And he was trying to make a difference along the way, right? He, like, sat on Babrovsky at one point. Like, he was just trying to get his team going and do stuff, right? But at this point of his career, like, he just, he cannot move anymore. And there was one laughable moment where he tried to take Forsberg, uh, Forsling, not Forsberg, one on one off the rush and, like, dangle him and put it through his legs. Yeah, I tried the tow drag.

And it was just like, Forrestling was almost just like, what? Inconvenanced by like why he was trying to challenge that and just knocked it away very summarily. The answer for Knoblock heading into this game and he's gotten so much credit throughout this run of pushing all the right buttons, making adjustments, having a feel for his team

was to put Corey Perry on the second line with Dry Seidel and McLeod, bring back Cici into the lineup on the blue line. And we saw it not work in this game. And I think even before the results, you and I were sort of lamenting the idea in particular that Corey Perry in that role would be the answer. And then you watch the game playout, and there's just...

Well, even McLeod. There's just not enough speed there. And so Drysidl's just getting kind of stuck in the mud there. Wheels are just spinning. No easy opportunities. And so Barkov did a phenomenal job against him tonight, like not taking anything away from that. But it's just hard to argue that they're like putting him in a position to actually succeed

against these guys considering what he's being armed with. The right from the start, too, there was like a really rough. Ryan McLeod shift almost right off the bat. Just felt like it wasn't going to be his night. He ends up scoring. So perhaps that feeling was incorrect. But, you know, McLeod Perry with Drysidal, this is one of those things too where, I mean,

we talked about the stress of Knoblock. It's like he's found a lot of solutions all playoffs long, to his credit. And, you know, sometimes you don't have. have the cards to find the answer. Sometimes it doesn't matter how intelligently you stare at your office whiteboard after a loss. Like there's there might not be an answer. I do think the closest that the Oilers can come is to approximate their approach in Vancouver, which was, you know, Perry drew out of the lineup, but whether he's on the fourth line or out of the lineup, you know,

with with Evander Kane out, it's not like you have a ton of options and maximize the speed of your top nine. Like that's what they needed to handle Vancouver. pressure game because Vancouver's trying to play a pretty similar style to Florida. They just don't have the horses. Right. And I think they're a little bit more negative in terms of what they want their players to do as puck handlers, right? But for the most part. And so that ended up with this like McLeod, Fogel, Derek Ryan on the wing, third line, right?

Carrick was a big part of it because the Canucks were cleaning their clock in the faceoff dot. And at that time, they still had Canaan in the lineup, but, you know, Canaan Holloway with Drysidal. And then you had obviously your top line with Ryan Newtch Hopkins. That worked because it gave the Oilers a third line fast enough to support the breakout. And I don't understand why they wouldn't try something similar here. And I hope we do get to see it before the Oilers go down in the series. Right now, you know, they're not dead yet. No.

Trailing 3-0 in a series. It's going to be an uphill battle. It's tough sledding. Yeah. And I hope we don't see the Oilers bow out without trying their nine fastest skaters, you know, together. It lines one, two, three, minimize the minutes your fourth line play. And honestly, I mean, I don't know if you want to split Bouchard and Eckholm, but a game like tonight where I didn't think they made a big difference, you know, maybe it's time, especially because after being a star,

performer in game one, I do think we've seen two off nights in a row from Bouchard here. And it's frustrating, I think, certainly, I imagine, for not only the O'Oller Star players, but people cheering for them. I think you and I are just watching and not really caring who wins, just wanting the best version of this series to see, like, how few viable options they have right now instead of that. And the reason why it's, I think, most frustrating is because you'd think that in theory, like, right, you take a step back and you just think about it from an NHL league-wide perspective, probably the position you'd most easily be able to fill along the way at a bargain price is young fast players on the wing, right?

Like, that is, by definition, I think, the easiest position to find. You can tell the listeners, like, we're watching and I'm like listing random forwards that I think would be a huge help to the Oilers lineup right now. Yeah, if we recorded it, I think Kiefer Sherwood's agent would be sending that to 30, 31 other NHL team is being like... I'm a big key for Sherwood guy. He's exactly what the Oilers need. Just like...

I think maybe a bit more skill than that, but yes. Eh. No, honestly, like... It would be an upgrade right now, certainly. I just think from a pace and an ability to keep up. Yeah. If you were able to just throw him onto a third line and have him mix it up, hit some people,

and get you going, man, it would be massive right now. Yeah. So I think that might be more of a... No, no, not to put the car before the horse here. I think that might be more of an off-season thing, right? in terms of like what they can do to meaningfully adjust and actually give themselves a better chance in a matchup like this. I do think with McLeod and Fogler matchup though. It is. Yeah. It is. But also I don't think it can, I mean, listen, Florida's unbelievable.

And they're the best, they were the best defensive team in the league this season. They've been the best defensive team this postseason. Their depth is phenomenal. There's very few weak links. They're able to put you in compromising, uncomfortable positions along the way. so it is singular in that way. Also, if you're going to win a Stanley Cup, I think you need to expect to be able to play this type of hockey. Yeah, right? Like every matchup is going to be different,

but along the way, you're going to have to play a series where weak links matter and you have to just be able to outskate your opponent. And so in this series, that's kind of where they're falling short for me. So I think, you know, with Fogel and McLeod, especially McLeod on the wing, they have some looks here that I think. thing they can do, right? Like, that they, did they just like, Corey Perry on that line is not the way to go.

And I think we've seen that enough now with quite like we've talked about the desperation from Knoblock here. I think going down 3-0, this is the time where you just pull every single remaining trick up your sleeve essentially. And it might not even be that exotic of a move. But it's like, let's just let's just play all of our young fast guys or whatever we have available to us and try to go for it from there. So I don't know. Do you do you think we'll see that in game four as we kind of look ahead here in terms of that being the adjustment as opposed to sort of what they did in this game, which is like, let's go back to old reliable and sort of double down with guys that are more experienced than veteran and kind of seeing

what we got from it as a result. I mean, I hope so. Like, I do think in this series, and not to oversimplify the task at hand because this Panthers team's a monster, right? They're, it's like, it's like, you know, in football when you play the absolute maximum pass rush, right? And it's like it almost doesn't matter who their secondary is or what else is happening. You're under so much pressure the whole time that it's hard to get started. But I do think the Oilers best shot at it. You know, and I think it's more important than like trying Brober, Bouchard, although I'd love to see it.

Don't knock it before you try. I'm down to see it. The, I think it's as simple as like McDavid, Ryan Nugent, Hopkins and it's not this simple but like it's I think one thing you have to do before you go down in the series is you know McDavid Hyman Ryan Nugent Hopkins dry sidel Connor Brown Warren Fogel McLeod Holloway and Derek Ryan like that's it that's your nine fastest guys and you know what if your mileage varies on Derek Ryan and you want to do Yanmark fine yes but it's like I do want to do that. Okay, that's fine. But that's, that's, that's your nine or ten fastest guys in some

combination in the top nine. You know, I don't have like very strong feelings about exactly what it should look like. I think you're going to see a lot of McDavid dry siddle in game four. I think you have to see a lot of McDavid dry saddle. I mean, they were even playing with Perry late. Perry, we saw a little McLeod had that opportunity from McDavid that was set up. I think they were just kind of throwing anything up against the wall and seeing what works. It was a bit surprising. I'm kind of curious for your take on then why. I, I think, do you think it was a result of just trying to have some second wave of offense that could capitalize for why they put, took Hyman off of that unit and played him instead

down the lineup more so? Do you think it just to give it another look? Because that was a bit surprising, right? Because we've noted how despite the lack of goals from him, he's been a player who's given the Florida Panthers top pair some problems because of his unique combination of strength and speed to kind of fall in the blind spot for those two top pair guys for Florida. and yet instead in some of these crucial moments, it was some of these other guys instead.

And so I guess we'll see whether that's the adjustment for game. I think it's as simple as with eight, nine minutes left in the game, right? You're not going to play more than two, maybe. Maybe you have a third line that comes out for 25 seconds or something like that. But, you know, for the most part, you're going to ride your top players. And at least with Hyman and Ryan Nugent Hopkins, maybe you have a shot. Maybe you have a shot.

to at least generate a scoring chance in those minutes when you're giving McDavid and Dryside a little breather. I mean, through these three games of this series so far, McDavid's played 13 more minutes than any single Panthers forward. And I think that's the reality of the situation, right? Because especially they've been trailing and they've been kind of trying to generate offense late, and so you're going to wind up seeing these spots

where you just load up and play your top guys more. I'm just not sure how much more we can reason expected this point, particularly from a usage perspective, if he's already playing that much. Like 74 minutes through three games, none of which have gone to overtime is just outlandish for a forward, right? Wild. It's like prime Chris pronger minutes.

He makes it look easy, but it's like, come on. At the end of day, especially with some of the assignments that he's going on head to head against and how there's no easy minutes there along the way, like I think we need to be a little realistic in terms of what that's going to look like. When the battles he's winning, the chances he's generating that aren't finding the back of the net,

the amount of shots that he's getting. Like, I know there's going to be some criticism of McDavid because he's got, what, one point? No, he's up to three now because he got points on the two goals there late. The classic McDavid where it's like he's being criticized as a bum and he's point per game. No, but I think there's going to be some criticism of the fact that him and Drysidal and the Oilers Top End haven't been able to take over this series. And again, I think it's just really important to note that with Barkov-Rinehart, right a pair of like number one and two in first place selke votes in the nchl this season plus that

foursling egg blad pair like the panthers are also dominant at the top end of their lineup right like this is not an example of macdavid not playing well enough that's not why the oilers are on the verge of failing to win a game in their first appearance in the stanley cup final i think they were saying that on the broadcast that he's come under scrutiny or something. And maybe I'm just out of touch with what the kids are talking about these days, but I don't know where that's coming from. Hey, go Twitter search Donchich, McDavid, and you'll be disappointed. I have absolutely no interest to do anything of the sort.

I'm, yeah, I don't want to do that. I think, I mean, certainly we know it in game two. Edmonton had like seven scoring chances, and I think he either had or directly set up six of them. Yeah. It's like, all right, listen, when you're a top player, you're going to be judged by the bottom line and results. That's kind of the blessing and the curse, right? That's the burden you bear.

And I guess in that sense, he hasn't scored enough. But come on, watching these games, like what more could he do beyond, I guess, have a few balances go in. And whenever he's been there, Bobrovsky, to his credit, has made big stops, particularly high-danger ones. And so that's what's happening. It's just a classic example of he's clearly been. the second best forward in this series. So if you want to criticize them and say Barkov has been better across these first three games, then fine. I mean, I agree with that. I think Barkov's been the best forward in this series. I think Barkov's been the best

player in the series. I think Barkov's the hands-down MVP, even though I think momentum is quickly building for Bobrovsky to win it. With the problem I think that McDavid's bumping it to, is he might be the second best forward in this series. But numbers three through nine are Florida Panthers. Yeah, I'd have Hyman in that list, from what I've seen. Um, but the point stands. Not ahead of Reinhard, Lusteran, Lundell, Lundell, Bennett. I mean, listen, Leon hasn't been good enough. He has no points yet, I think. He had a really tough night in game three. He pretty clearly, um, I think he has like a finger, like a finger or a hand injury or something. And you are seeing it, like he's getting rocked in the faceoff dot last I checked as well. And maybe that's where it's

manifesting itself. He's getting a few opportunities. Listen, he got that power play. one that you described earlier where Big David goes cross seam. And he's a half inch. And he one times a puck that's not sitting for him. And he gets an unrealistic amount on it. And Bobowski just gets across and he like just barely fights it off. It's a half inch from being above his pads. That margin is ultimately what is the difference this time of year

between success and failure or being the hero and being the goat. But he needs to, I think he needs to do more. Now if he's going to keep playing with the players he's been playing with, it's also going to be tough for him. So I'm not sure. Has he considered shooting for Nico Mikola's elbow? I hear that's a good scoring strategy. Okay, so beyond the lineup adjustments for game four,

I think we both feel that it's imperative, even if it results in a few backbreaking turnovers off that forecheck to essentially, I think, start pushing the emergency button in terms of trying to jailbreak and fly the zone, and just try to get guys in the neutral zone and hope the puck gets to you so that you can attack off the rush.

I think the other thing that I really like as we saw this game progressed is instead of bombing away from the point as hard as you can, just funneling it back down low and then trying to bring it out and cause some sort of chaos and disorganization with the Panthers.

Shooting wide intentionally. Shooting off Nikomiko. Shooting off, but also just like second stick opportunities, tons of, like, it feels like one of those. series where if the Oilers are going to win a game or two, if they're going to get to the point like Carolina did against the Rangers, where it's like you win two and you force a sixth game. You plant the seat of doubt.

Yeah, and at least it's interesting, right? Like if you're going to get even to that point, you know, I think they almost have to, they're going to have to score some goals that aren't Oilers trademark goals. I just don't see any other way to do it. Yeah. I see what you're saying. And right, the Broberg one off Mikola is, I guess, an example of that. At the same time, that being sort of your strategy is everything we deride the hurricanes

for in the postseason for, right? It's like just shooting the puck and hoping it bounces in is not a meaningful strategy. No, no, but that's what they're doing now. They're taking these. Right. And granted, they're from the middle of the blue line. But, like, that's what they're doing now. You know, I just want to see some wrist shots.

I want to see some defenders change the angle. I want to see some, you know, get. fake the shot, feed it to the flank and take a hopeful shot just like, do something that's not predictably hitting the thicket of Panthers' bodies loading up the slot in the defensive zone because far too often, I mean, there's nice work on the perimeter. You know, they keep citing the zone time. It looks good. And then it's an empty calorie point shot that they're just not getting through it, a high enough clip to justify taking or continuing to take.

So I just want to see a different approach. McDavid is, I'd be curious to see what the numbers are for like amount of time with a puck on a stick in the office zone because I bet it's through the roof and probably significantly more than anyone else in this series. And a lot of it is, hey, I think like probing. It's not for a lack of effort, but like skating around waiting for an opening. And in particular, what Florida has done remarkably well is they've cut off everything backdoor, right? Like think about like a lot of Zach Hyman's goals this season, but also whether it's on

the power player or even at 515, just the number. of the eyeballs and attention than McDavid commands when he's in those spots and then how the rest of the guys on his team are able to get lost in coverage and then benefit from it. And you're not even really seeing that. I guess he got that one through

that we talked about where McLeod was out in front and Barowski made the save. That's an example of that, I guess. But those have been few and far between. It's a lot of him painstakingly probing, looking for something, and then it resulting in a point shot or him shooting from kind of a bad angle.

And that I think has to change, but you're bumping into the situation where this Panthers team is just playing so well defensively right now that it's tough. Like we're making it sound easy. Like this is what you need to do. Instead of shooting, just pass it down low and then get a better look. And it's like, I think they probably know that. Unfortunately, accomplishing it as an entirely different situation.

100%. And it's absolutely not easy. And also, effectively, you know, I think you're being forced to take lower percentage opportunities in some ways. But I also think there has to be an element. to which you take what the Panthers give you because, you know, some of the, some of the way, some of the point shots that some really hard work, some like excellent retrieval, some sick probing from Connor McDavid are resulting in, I mean, they feel so hopeful. And, you know, this is what we've been talking about all playoffs.

You bump into that opponent where it feels like you need to, you need luck. You need a lucky break. I just think the Oilers are there, especially now that they're trailing through nothing. Yeah. You noted earlier how to make it interesting, and I get what you're saying from like a series scoreline perspective, right? Like three nothing right now, it feels like we're on the precipice here. It's not, but I think within the context of each of these games,

I've personally been finding them pretty enjoyable in terms of like the intrigue for me of like what the teams are doing, what's giving each other problems. Even in these losses for Edmonton, like we said, the first 10 minutes of the second period, like there's stretches where they are exerting their will and stuff's working for them. It's just whenever they've been able to break through, Bobrovsky's made a key save or Barkov's knocked a puck away backdoor, and then Florida's just been able to capitalize on their opportunities. And at the end of the day, like, we are interested in all this stuff

and examining the details of it and like trying to figure out, all right, what's this going to look like? And then the game happens, and these are the margins, right? Like this is playoff hockey. And so it's tough for someone who does. does a radio show and a podcast here to be like, listen, this is playoff hockey. You just play these games, this stuff happens. Like, people listen to us to get deeper thoughts than that, I'd hope.

But also, that's kind of what's going on. The end of the way. I'm not trying to submarine the concept of analysis here of hockey. But also, like, I do think it's certainly deeper than, especially before, when it was 4-1, right? And the aggregate score in the series was 11-2, Florida. Right. Bobrovsky had like a 9, 80, say a percentage or whatever it was at one point. It's still 114, 114.

But I think at that point... It's been closer than that. At that point, it's like, all right, like, this is obviously a bit one-sided. But I also, I think if you're watching these games, like Florida's doing some stuff. This isn't... Let's sit back and hope our goalie bails us out. He's done that, especially in game one. And Bobrovsky's been awesome.

But, man, like, how the stuff they're doing defensively in front of him, I think, is also... It's just giving Edmonton. It's posing problems. than no one else, like the Canucks did for particularly that game five, certainly, and frustrated them. But Dallas wasn't really able to meaningfully do it for a large stretch of that series. L.A. had zero chance of doing so. And that's what makes Florida such a worthy finalist here represented at the Eastern Conference, and we're seeing that. It's awesome that they're a game away.

Like, think about that. Dallas could not make this offense sweat. Vancouver made this offense sweat briefly and then got overwhelmed. Dallas. We've just talked about three of the top seven defensive teams in the league. Right. None of them got close to, like, making this monster bleed. And now they have no answers against an Oilers defensive front in the defensive zone and the Oilers pressure, or sorry, the Panthers defensive front in their own zone,

the way they're fronting shots, and then also the Panthers forecheck and pressure game. And all that comes with it in terms of what they're cutting. off in terms of entry attempts and on and on how they're limiting McDavid, the way that their penalty kill is performing and the way that Pabrovsky's stopping pretty much everything that doesn't bounce off Mekyllis elbow. That's masterful. Like this Oilers team has been on one of the most epic offensive tears we've seen in Stanley Cup playoff history, period, right? They entered this series, Bouchard entered this series with like a plus 15 goal differential at five on five. McDavid was like plus nine.

They weren't winning their matchups. They were overpowering the best defensive teams. Who's who of the stingiest defensive teams in the league? No one came close. Well, the Canucks came close in a game or two. But no one really came close. And now they're overwhelmed against this Panthers team. I mean, that's champion caliber stuff.

And ultimately, that's what the series is about. It's about anointing a new champion. And the Panthers have been full. value with their two-way game, with their defensive play, with Barcov's, you know, dominance, with Gustav Forrestling's aggressiveness, with Bobrovsky's impenetrability. It's been awesome to watch. Well, hopefully you enjoyed coming along for the ride with us. I'm looking forward to game four. Either we will get that new champion or we're going to get a seat of doubt planted and head back to the series and hear about media members being frustrated about the

travel. And so looking forward to that. That is a tough travel, man. It was tough travel. This was a last. I'm glad we got to do this after the game. Hopefully people enjoyed it. And we'll be back soon with plenty more of the Hockey Ocast streaming on the SportsNet Radio Network.