The Hockey PDOcast - What We Saw in Leafs Panthers Game 2, and Jets Stars Game 1

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Steve Peters to break down everything we saw from Game 2 of Leafs vs. Panthers, and Game 1 of Jets vs. Stars on Wednesday night. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDAOCast. My name is Dimitra Filipovich. And joining me today is my good buddy, Steve Peters. Pidi, what's going on, man? You know, just another day of getting ready for more hockey. These two games, I will say this.

Right now in the second round, this is the perfect. You get the early game, you get the leg game. You're not missing any of the action. You can stay tuned and stay up to date on everything. So the second round is great. Love the first round. It's the best round of hockey and the best round of all sports play. but it's just a little bit too much.

Yeah, round one is peak chaos. You just feel like you're go, go, go, nonstop. You're just bouncing from game to game. There's a lot of overlap. Round two is the hockey nerds delight. I feel like that's where the PDO cast in particular really gets to shine. We get to really marinate in every single game

and give it our undivided attention. And we're coming off a remarkable night of hockey on Wednesday. It certainly makes life easy for us here today because there's no shortage of fun stuff for us to talk about coming out of the two games. So we're going to break down Leaves Panthers game two. And then in the back half, we're going to get into game one of Jet Stars. I thought Leaves Panthers was an incredibly entertaining back and forth game.

It didn't have the stakes or the drama of some of the game sevens we saw in round one and those theatrics. But I thought from an X's and O's perspective and just an electricity in terms of like sitting on the edge of your seat the entire time waiting to see what was going to happen next, it was right up there as one of my favorite games of this 2025 postseason so far. And that's why I'm excited to have you on to break it all down here today, especially since it's not like these broadcasts are interested in doing so, watching the Canadian one here. And there's this brilliant chess match playing out on the ice. And then you tune in into their mission.

You're like, oh, I'd love to see what they have to say. And instead, they're focusing on how hard marks of art is celebrating or what suit Willie Neelander is wearing to the rink. But I guess to each their own, our preferences here are certainly to focus on the actual stuff on the ice. And I'll pose this question to you right out of the gate because the Panthers go down two nothing here. the Leafs are up to nothing for the first time and forever in round two. Do you think this is a silver lining or a red flag for the Panthers that at least I thought in defeat they played pretty well, especially when you compare it to game one where right out

of the gate, the Leafs really took it to them. I think the broadcast had this stat that through 40 minutes in game one, the Leafs had won 70% or something of puck battles. And it really felt that way watching it. And then you saw the inevitable pushback. in the third period when they were down 4-1 by the Panthers. But at least to start this game, I felt the sense that the Panthers got back to the way they want to play.

They executed their game plan. They were on the front foot attacking. There was a ton of sustained offensive zone pressure, a bunch of scrambles around Joseph Wol and the Leafs net with the second, third, fourth efforts for the Panthers. And they still get outdone by the Leafs here, who just punish them repeatedly for the mistakes or openings that inevitably result from this particular very specific and unique playing style

that the Panthers have deployed for the past three years where there's such a razor-thin margin for them between aggressive and reckless and they've gone too far in the reckless direction here in these games and the Leafs have just made them pay every single time. So coming out of this one, you lose the game, you feel like you execute your game plan pretty well and it still wasn't enough. If you're the Panthers, how are you feeling about that going home down to you? Yeah, it's funny because you talk about game one.

And I think game one, that first period where you were getting pummeled by Toronto. Like pummeled. It was 13 to 4 and shots through the first period. Toronto dominated the play in the first period of game one. And Florida didn't look like Florida. Honestly, they didn't look like Florida for the first 45 minutes of this game. And then suddenly they kind of woke up and started puts a pressure on the Toronto Maple Leafs. And you go, okay, that's Florida Panther hockey.

They just took a while to find their legs. They come up short and you go, okay, but they're finding their way. Game two, they started off well. they had offensive opportunities. They had second opportunities. They had chances at the net. They got plays low to high in the zone were shots from their defense. I thought they played physical.

All the things that you want to see the Florida Panthers do and they still lose. And so, yes, there is a concern. I think game one, you walk away from, we didn't play very good. That wasn't our game. That's not who we are. That's not our identity. We just weren't ready to play. We're just going to stick to what we do well and we'll eventually win the series.

And I do think that's the mindset after game one. Now you've got to scratch your head. And go, we out chanced him. We outshot them. We were the better team through various points in this game, but we can't get through. We can't stop Toronto at doing what Toronto does well, and that is play with speed and pace.

Florida is exceptional at keeping teams between the blue lines and smothering and tight gaps. They couldn't do that to Toronto, and they're not able to shut down their best players. And the other thing that I think Toronto did extremely well in game, too, something that I think was a big recipe for success, was their ability to get in front of bra bra, And not just one player, not just two players, at times, at three players in the blue paint.

And I think that was a much different way for Toronto to play for the bottom six guys to get an opportunity to really affect this game is by getting into the crease and in the net front of Bob Brofsky. So you're right, Florida is scratching their head now. That was what we do. That's how we play. And we still come up short. So they're their backs against the wall going back home to sunrise. It's interesting because the leaves this regular season, we spoke about it on this show a bunch throughout had really changed the way they played. played under Craig Brubay, right? They were down to 24th or 25th in the league in the regular season

in rush chances under six of them per game. And that was a concerted effort on their part to prepare for the postseason, right? They wanted to change their profile, especially in terms of puck transportation, particularly with decision-making and kind of some of these high leverage areas of the ice, whether it's in the neutral zone or whether it's at the offensive zone blue line. And they joined the Panthers as a top five dump and chase team this season. And the logic was just sort of the risk mitigation component of it, right? If you simplify your approach where it hurt them so dearly in past post seasons, you can eliminate some of those mistakes.

And then if you apply the effort and actually win those puck battles, good things are going to result, as we've seen in countless times over across NHL post seasons. And yet in this series, because of the way the Panthers choose to play, there's this opportunity for them to attack very aggressively in selective spots, particularly if you bypass that last defender that's pinching along the wall for the Panthers and they do that more aggressively than another other team. There's just this completely open canvas of ice for you to skate into.

And we saw it with Matthew Nyes's game winning goal in game one. You saw it early in this one. Bobby McMahon gets it past Kulikov, forces Kulikov to interfere with him, draws a penalty. You saw Willie Nealander, the second goal. He scores to make a two two in the second period. He also had another chance where he was kind of hanging around in the neutral. zone near the offensive zone blue line. The Leaves get the puck, get it past the defenseman.

He has a rush opportunity. Max Domey's three, two goal as well. And so I find that this game, and this is why I really wanted to have you on for this one, you've been doing all these cool goal breakdowns and kind of, you know, showing and identifying how some of this stuff happens. And this in terms of just breaking down frame by frame and seeing what happens is perfectly suited for that, right? Like every time the, the Panthers over-extend themselves a little bit. And, you know, they're kind of playing the math from the perspective of the puck's bouncing, chaos is ensuing, there's a lot of pressure on the other team.

If we force them into a mistake, we're going to sustain this offensive zone pressure. Good things are going to happen for us more often than not. But time and time again, the Leafs have been able to make a nice little play into the neutral zone and all of a sudden be attacking with speed. And so at this point, if you're the Panthers, you can't really change that because you've set up this team to play this way. you want a Stanley Cup doing so, you made it to another Stanley Cup final as well two years ago. So you're not going to all of a sudden, you know, become conservative and totally change the X's and O's of your approach. But if they keep playing this way and the Leafs keep executing like this, it's tough to see it changing from that perspective. Yeah, this is a problem.

And in Florida last year, when you look at the Stanley Cup finals, Paul Maurice said, and they gave up goals in the finals against the Eaminton owners by making aggressive mistakes. They did. And that's how Edmonton was able to capitalize on some goals. And Marie said, this is how we play. It's how we're going to play tomorrow. And that's what the Florida Panthers are today. And that's what they're going to be against Toronto in game three.

The problem is when you're playing this aggressive and it causes problems against you. And you talked about that specifically that Domi rush, where Domi gets the goal, you look at two defensive mistakes by both defensemen being overly aggressive. You look at Schmidt at the red line right at the dot, at the faceoff dot at Center Ice Circle, stepping up. Probably a play shouldn't step up, but it creates the play that gets the two on one. started and then Kulikov steps up. Now he got a direct two on one off of two defensemen

overly aggressive through the neutral zone through the blue lines, giving up opportunities to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now that's fine if Bobrovsky comes up big, as he so often does that Bob Rovsky's the guy, but Bob Rovsky's, look at his expected goals in this one. He, you know, his minus 2.24.

He, they were outchanced. Florida out chances Toronto 15 to 6 and high danger chances. Bob Rovsky just makes a few saves and this may change. So I guess my point is you're right. these mistakes. Florida is creating their own mistakes and their own trouble, but the difference is Toronto's scoring. If Toronto doesn't score and Toronto doesn't put these chances away, then Florida goes, you know what, this is how we play. Bob bales us out and we're going to keep playing

incredibly aggressive between the blue lines and giving up these opportunities. At some point, you have to look at the numbers. They go, uh-oh, Toronto's doing what they do. They do with pace through the blue lines. They extend the play with long stretch passes, but they're capitalizing on those opportunities offensively. What are we going to do to adjust? And the big thing about play up hockey is the ability for coaching staffs to adjust the way they play to way their opponents are playing against them and having success. This is a rock and a hard place for Florida.

It's how they play. This is what brings them success. But if they continue to play this way with the aggressive defenseman in the neutral zone, if Toronto continues to make them pace, something's going to have to give or this series may be over sooner than people think. Yeah, that dominoe goal was a great example of that domino effect, right? Where one guy is over aggressive, makes a mistake, all of a sudden it stretches you out.

the other guy tries to compensate for it and all of a sudden you're left in this very undesirable spot. I think the matchups as well in this series are right up there for me in terms of like the game within the game, the chess match element of it is so fascinating for me to track. And obviously it's going to change a little bit in Florida's favor as we as we go back for games three and four there. And they have last change in home ice. But I thought it was interesting in this one. So Craig Brubay has gone power versus power all year, right? He's used Matthews against other teams top center in their top line. that's been the case again in this series at home. He's played 21, 16 of his 27-43 at 5-1-5-3-3-3-3-3-3-2 games head-to-head against Barkov. Leif's line 1 clearly won that matchup decisively in game 1.

I thought Barkov was uncharacteristically inefficient and unaffective in that game. He comes out in this one. He scores the power play goal. I thought his response was tremendous. Like you could tell that he was just on top of it. He was an absolute horse on the puck. He was winning battles. Just watching Matthews and Barkov throughout the game. these games, the battles for every inch on the ice, the loose puck recoveries, the stuff along the wall is, is so fun to watch. It's hockey kind of being played on a very niche level, but at the highest level. And so it's been a real treat to see that. But then the trickle-down effect of it, and I thought this was a bit of a miscalculation at times in game two for Barubei, which obviously

the Leafs got away with because they won the game. But at the start of the periods, he was going with Willie Nealander and John Tavares in their line against Lundell Lusirina and Marchand. And they went head to head. It cost them in the first shift of the second period. And I think those minutes for Nielander against Lundell and Foresling as a combo because Paul Moress has been so diligent now that Echblad's back, you see what he wants to do, right? He's going to play Barkov with the Jones Mekla Pair as much as he can.

He's going to play Lundel's line with Forzling and Eckblad, and then he's going to use Schmidt and Kulikov with the Kach Bennett line. And so if you have Willie Nielander against Lundell and Lusdurine and Marchand, it's going to be more difficult for him. It's going to be an uphill battle in a way because those guys are so disciplined. They're always in the right position and their work ethic is through the roof, right? And so you're going to have to progressively work your way up the ice. Whereas if you get Nielander out against the Kachuk-Bennett line and that comes with minutes against Schmidt and Kulikov, all of a sudden there's going to be a lot of this open ice because I think that especially in this game,

the combo of Kachuk and Bennett was wildly over-aggressive on the forecheck. They got so down low. And then all of a sudden, they're very vulnerable to that speed differential moving up the ice. And if you're Craig Rubet, you want to get Lili Nylander in open ice as much as you can for him to just gallop. And he's clearly the most dangerous player in this series. He scored three goals, I believe, through two games. He's got six goals in eight games this postseason so far, countless opportunities.

And so I feel like getting those minutes away from Lundell and Foresling and getting them out there as much as you can against Kachuk Bennett and the third pair is such a decided advantage. For the least, they didn't really explore it as much as I wanted them to in game two. And I'm curious to see how that translates with Florida having a better ability, I guess, to micromanage those matchups a little bit. Yeah, and you saw how much that matchup helped Florida. And you looked at game one where Barkov starts off with Matthews in game one off the opening face-up. and that changed, that small subtle change by getting Marshaun and Lundell and Lusurana out there, that was the best line. Like Marchan had the majority of the high danger scoring chances for Florida in this game.

I thought that line led the way. Unfortunately, for Florida, if Florida wants to find their way on the winning side of a score sheet, they need their top six to be the guys that are putting up those kind of numbers. And those are the guys that they need to get to the blue paint and get scoring chances, and they just weren't. And I'm wondering now at home if these matchups can start to favor Florida a little bit better because you're right. Kachuk was a non-factor in both of these games.

And you just don't say that. The ability for Toronto and not just to match up lines, but they kept him quiet. And you watch how they defend him. How closely they defended him one-on-one and didn't allow him inside the blue paint, boxed him out extremely well. You didn't allow Florida to become Florida. And I think that's been the biggest surprise for me is how well Toronto has been able to defend from the blue line in and keep Florida from getting inside to that blue paint

and causing that second and third opportunities. No, give credit to Walt. Woe was phenomenal in game two. Phenomenal. And I thought this was going to be a concern. I know he's played well during the regular season, and there was a debate on who would start in game one, series one. Stolars took the ball and ran, and he was great.

And you go, uh-oh, now we're in trouble. But Woll did everything he was asked to do against a team that's traditionally very difficult to play against the Blue Paine. So I do think this matchup change going back home to sunrise, can Florida free up some space for Reinhardt? Can they free up some space for Barkhaven, more importantly, can Chuck start to be, could Chuck at getting to the bullpen and starting to disturb the

Leafs after the whistles? Because he wasn't able to do that through two games in Toronto. Yeah, I know he put up some points, especially early in the round one series against the lightning, but he clearly looks like a guy who was hurt and missed the significant portion of the back off of the season. And I was kind of joking in the PDA gas discord, but, you know, part of it is is baked in truth. The best form of punishment for Bennett coming out of game one, and people wanted to see him suspended for game two was just making them play in this game because that line was getting torched off the rush

after all of the decisions every time they'd lose the puck. Whereas the Lundell line, I mean, Lundell lose 3rd and Marchand this postseason. 66 515 minutes, they're up 8 to 1 in goals. High danger chances are 199. They've arguably been their best most dominant line. And so getting those guys out against Toronto's most dangerous offensive player

is something I think Paul Maurice is going to explore and try to capitalize on as much as he can in games three. and four. The other issue for the Panthers, and I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but it was very visible in this game. I've been talking about Carter Brahegey having the yips as a shooter all season, essentially. I don't know if he needs an exorcism or something at this point, but this is a guy who in previous postseason obviously scored a great number of clutch overtime winners and big goals and was really putting the puck in the back of the net. He's just

missing the net so aggressively right now. In this game, he hits the net just once on his eight attempts. And I feel like watching him in particular, if you talk about sort of the styles of particular lines, you watch the way Reinhardt and Barkov play and there's these flourishes of precision and finesse. And then the puck comes to Verhege and his puck touches are always just like he's treating it like a grenade almost. Like there's just like unrefined power and it's killing a lot of the sequences for them. We saw Paul Marys finally put my guy Mackie Svesge back in the lineup here as the game progressed in the third period. he puts him on that Kachuk Bennett line. He has two really nice chances in the third. You mentioned Joseph Wool there.

His best saved, my opinion, was that one where he came across in tight and got the pad on a Samaskiewicz scoring chance. So I'm curious to see whether they mix up that combination. They have so much sort of deep-rooted faith and commitment to Rehagi that they probably won't change anything, but he just needs to be better at converting some of those opportunities that Ryan Hart and Barkov create, I think. Do you want to talk a little bit about the officiating?

because I feel like we have to in this game. Now, I'm on the record. I hate doing this because I find complaining about officiating, especially in the postseason, to just be the lowest form of analysis. At the same time, though, I really feel like it's been completely insane throughout this entire postseason.

And in this game in particular, the Evan Rodriguez embellishment, game won the no-call and benned on Stolar's. I felt like in that second period, they were really losing control. on the game as stuff starts to escalate from minor obstruction here and there, which we see a lot of in the postseason and is a pan there's hallmark to full on take downs on both sides.

They're letting stuff go on. And I think just the question of like, what's a call versus what isn't? If you ask any player, their biggest frustration with officiating is a lack of in-game consistency. And you saw that here where that became kind of a prevailing storyline in a game that was otherwise full of really cool stuff that I'd rather be talking about. Yeah, it's hard this time of year. And you don't want officiating to become a story. That's the last thing the league wants, definitely.

But you look at last night's game and you have to go to the embellishment. For me, I listen to Dave Jackson and I respect Dave Jackson and the way he breaks down a call afterwards. But even he's on air saying he's not quite sure. And he was having a, he doesn't like to say things negatively against the opposing referees. And in this situation, he had to. If that's embellishment, dude, getting your face pressed up against the glass. You see Rodriguez's nose going into Section 2, you get concerned. That is not, first of all, it's not embellishment.

But to your point, I wanted to see where that, for me, that's Lawton. I don't mind a boarding call there. I think here's the problem. When you have two players, they were all alone at the neutral zone. Everybody in the arena was focused on those two players at that time. I don't know how you missed that call. Now, there are other times when there are scrums or behind the play or something happens that you just missed. Yeah, I get those missed calls. But you're right.

Referees are so concerned about making a difference in the playoffs, especially in that last five minutes of a period, especially last five minutes of a third period. They don't want to be the guy that makes the decision in a game. However, to your point, players, coaches, fans, announcers, broadcasters, wants consistency. If that penalty is a penalty in the first period, first two minutes, it better be a penalty later in the game and just make it even and make it fair. But we just get the calls right. And I do get concerned that if there's an elbowing call on Bennett in game one, does that calm things down?

I know come things down is not the right word. But does that at least, at least for a Leafs fan, you go, okay, we got the penalty. And maybe not a five-minute major, but just a two-minute for album because he elbows a goalie in the crease. It's got to be a call, right? And then it isn't. So I think you just want to, the next day you don't want to be talking about the referees. So just call it consistently. I agree. All right. That's enough on playoff officiating. Max Patrice Reddy deserves a shout out here.

36-year-old season, the year 2025, Max Patreddy in the outside of the outside. This is a guy who didn't play from February 8th in the regular season all the way until game three of round one against the senators. All of a sudden now playing up the lineup, six points in the last three games that Tippy had through the legs to start the scoring for the Leafs on the power play was remarkable. had the nice little connective pass over to Willie Nealander for his goal to make a two-two. I think he's been awesome. I think the Leaf's top pair as well, right? Like you look at their 5-15 metrics in this game because of how much time they spend in their zone. They're not going to look pretty. But you talked about all that traffic around wool and what a tough night it was for him dealing with all that.

Two times it did squeak past him in that third period. One was for he had a chance to knock it in. The other one was on Evan Rodriguez rush. Both McCabe and Tanniv stepped up and cleared the puck out and prevented goals that otherwise would have tied it and maybe we'd be talking about this in a different tone here today. And Tanev in particular, this is a mind-blowing stat. He's played eight games this postseason. He's taken 61 hits in that time. Second in the league is Liam Bischel with 37 hits taken and then another 23 blocks that he's that he's blocked as well, which is second in the

league, I believe, this postseason. He's such an absolute warrior and he's kind of doing exactly what you'd expect Chris Tanev to do in a playoff series like this. So you got any notes on any of those? Well, it's funny because Patcherty is a guy that you look at and go, okay, can he help? Can he help at all? And I know the hope was that he could. But when he comes back from injury, Patsurty's been phenomenal. And what it does with a player like this for a team like this specifically that is driven by their high-end younger talent that gets all the accolades in the offensive upside from, you know, Matthews and Nielander, you get a guy like Patcher ready getting hot. And when you can get that secondary scoring and spread things out, it's one, it's extremely important.

but two, he makes those other guys better because he makes really good hockey decisions. His hockey IQ is elite and his ability to get to the net on that tip, beat the defender to the front of the net and have the presence of mind to be able to tip that between his legs. It's not just hockey IQ and smarts. It's high skill. And his physicality and determination that he's bringing to this series, it's phenomenal. Like, he's leading the series and hits. Max Petcherty is leading the series and hits is amazing. And that's when you look at a team that needs to get better.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have always been led by the four horsemen and you go, okay, this is how we're going to get there. They haven't had those other guys that are pitched and they haven't had the guys lower in the lineup that have been able to help. Where you're looking at now, Lawton and Domi and Lorenz and Pat Chorretti and guys are pitching in other than the big name guys. Matthews is still doesn't have a goal. And yet this team is up to nothing because of play like players like Patcheretti and their defense. Another area of weakness over time for the Toronto Maple Leafs has been their depth of defense. defense. It's always been talking about, hey, they don't defend well enough. This team right now is quietly defending exceptionally well. And you look, even, even Oliver Ekman-Larsson, you talk about

that, could Chuck turnover in the second period that creates the goal of the game through the, through the neutral zone, that's off a good stick through all of Macmillarsan that tips that that out to the blue lines. And again, their ability to have good sticks around the blue paint, and they're not giving up those second chance opportunities because of their good defending. And so they're starting to check boxes that they haven't checked for years. And that's a great sign for lease fans. However, series is far, far from over. Oh, 100%.

Like we said, I mean, there were a couple of very hairy moments and close calls there around the net and things could look wildly different if they don't play out that way. But I mean, we talk heading into the postseason how, especially that McCabe, Tanniff pair in terms of their ability to erase mistakes or prevent disaster,

is such a nice calling card for them compared to maybe what they had there previously. And you've seen that paid evidence here. My last point on this, and we can go to break is we haven't talked a lot about Bobrovsky. There's been, as we said, on the one hand, he clearly needs to be better. On the other hand,

a lot of the chances that the Leafs are generating are punishing the Panthers for some of these overaggressive mistakes and then essentially asking Bobrovsky to stare down a shooter one-on-one and make a high dangerous save. He hasn't made enough of them yet. I think the last goal by Marner, which was such a backbreaker because Lundell scores to tie it

and then the next shift, it's the shot from a bad angle from far out. It was a rocket that, perfectly placed and it goes off the bar and in on the other from that distance it's like all right your goalie probably needs to stop that but i thought the broadcast had a interesting note about how you know he's so athletic and he covers everything down low i believe he hasn't given up a single five on five goal yet this but or a five whole goal yet this postseason he's only given up four low he's been beaten 13 or 14 times up high now that's kind of true for a lot of goalies in

today's game with the uh with the advancements and athleticism and it's like all right, if you pick your spot up high, you're probably going to beat most goalies. In the NHL, it's easier said than done. But I did think it was interesting after Matthew and I scored that breakaway goal in game one, he was talking about how much work they did in prepping for this. And particularly trying to pick your spots,

high glove. We've seen him get beaten high blocker as well, and the Leafs are going for that. So I'm curious to kind of watch that trend as this series goes on. It's so tight, especially that game two was so tight, that the margins are so razor thin. And this could go either way. And I think that's what's made it such a captivating

game two in particular to watch and one that I can't wait for games three and four. Yeah, it's surprising with Bob Rowski and his worst save percentage in any given game in the playoffs he sure was last name, four goals on 20 shots. But to your point, he's making the big saves when he needs to make the big saves. You look at his body of work

through this playoff series when he needs to be good, he's good. And that's where he's got to be better. An 800 save percentage against Toronto Maple Leafs not good enough because Florida is going to get scoring chances. They are. They're going to get in tight. They're going to get in the blue paint. Their high-skilled guys are going to open in the slot because they've always been able to find those open areas like Matthews and Marner and Nielander. They find those open areas in the slot, including Tavares.

And the list goes on. Bob Roffsey is going to have to be a much better player for the Florida Panthers. He is going to have to be their best player coming into game three because I anticipate Florida, excuse me, Toronto's coming with a push. Toronto's offensive guys going, hey, we're playing with house money now. We've got the two wins at home. I think their offensive players are even going to be better in game three. Bob Roffsey's going to have to take his game up a little bit. And I know it's hard to pick on a goaltender that's making the elite saves that he is making.

But if you're going to get to the next round in the Stanley Cup playoffs, your goalie better make saves like Wold did in the third period in this game. And that honestly, wasn't that the difference in his ability to get that foot over on Samaskiewicz, that ties the game. I still don't know how that didn't go. And Samisovic clearly didn't know how that went. And the goaltending right now is in favor of Toronto. their goal tending has been better.

And that's from Wolfe from sitting on the bench. So you're right. Bob Rovsky is going to have to be the best player for the Florida Panthers in game three. All right, Petey, let's take our break here. And then we come back. We'll switch gears. We're going to get into what we saw from Stars Jets game one last night as well. A lot of fun stuff there to unpack.

You're listening to the HockeyPedie Ocast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network. All right, we're back here on the HockeyPedia. We're joined by Steve Peters today. Petey, let's talk Stars Jets and what we saw from that game one of that series on Wednesday evening. What I really appreciate about the NHL postseason is how I think stylistically different every matchup is. And obviously you need to, while every team has kind of their bread and butter preferred form of attack or playing style, you're going to bump across different opponents if you're going

to go on a long run and ultimately win a Stanley Cup and you're going to need to win in different ways. You're going to be challenged in different areas and you're going to need to respond to that. And, you know, part of this could be attributed just to sort of a feeling out process of game one, both teams are coming off these emotionally and physically taxing round one series. And all of a sudden, you get into round two, game one. It's a fresh start. And so maybe that's partly to do with this.

But clearly at watching this game, I felt that things really opened up for both teams, which is significantly more latitude and willingness to kind of attack an open ice. In round one, we talked a lot about how Dallas had to play such a disciplined style to limit Colorado's transition prowess. and so they couldn't really engage in this back and forth and come out ahead. And then Winnipeg and St. Louis was just a case of two teams, just open season trying to murder each other at every single opportunity. And the physicality was through the roof probably more than any other round one series in that one.

And so now you get into this one. And with this clean slate, I love the pace and the back and forth of this. And it felt like both teams just got to do a lot more than we got to see from them in round one, when they just kind of did enough to survive. And so if that's a sign of things to come in this series, I think this is going to be a really, really fun one to watch. Yeah, and the good players are the good players for both teams. And I think that's what you want to see.

We want to see if I'm glad Shifley was back in the lineup. And he was absolutely fantastic for the Winnipeg Jets. But you look at the first five minutes of this game for the Winnipeg Jets at home. I don't know if it's a little fall off or a little deflating after their big game seven comeback over the St. Louis Blues. The way they did, it was a little bit of an emotional letdown with a new opponent. because Dallas came out storming. And Dallas, if not for Hellebuck in the first five minutes,

this one could have been a much different game. It was 9 to 1 and shots 10 minutes into this game. And the ice was tilted in favor of the Dallas stars. Then Winnipeg got their legs. And then Winnipeg got into it. And the game was extremely even from that point on in scoring chances and chances. And this was a game, like you said, this series to me, these are the hockey series I want to watch.

No offense to Carolina, Washington. but I don't know if I need to not watch too many more of the Carolina Washington, and I know we can talk about that later, but this is an exciting game where the best players are being their best players. They're getting, chances off the rush,

they're getting scoring chances from Mintight. Both goaltenders were great. This game was a lot of fun to watch. And you know what, Jets fans, you come out on the short end, but this was a really good game by a lot of the Winnipeg Jets,

and it shows that they belong on the ice with the team that's been the hottest team right now after defeating the Colorado Avalanche that I thought was going to be in the Stanley Cup finals. Yeah, to your point about that start. I think there's a natural expectation for a bit of a letdown. Now, it evens the playing field that both teams went through it to some degree, although you could argue the Jets,

especially having to play two extra periods. The day after those circumstances, I think, affected them maybe a little bit more, and they bounced back after those first five or six minutes for the stars. This game one record they've had historically, where I believe this is the first game one. They've won since the 2020 bubble is you talk about playing with house money. I feel like for them,

it's like, wow, we actually won one of these final. It's a totally different circumstance, not having to go into game two in feeling like it's almost a must win. Essentially, to that point about it being much more open, though. Sport Logic had Winnipeg with 30 rush chances in seven games against St. Louis. Watching this one, it felt like they got nearly half of that. I don't have the exact total in front of me, but it felt like certainly to my eye that they had at least double digits. In this game alone, just that north, south, pace, and back and forth, they were benefiting from it quite a bit. I think assuming his leg can hold up, this could be a big Nikola Eeler series.

He didn't score in this game, but you watch that third period in particular where they were pushing for the tying goal. He looked like he was shot out of a cannon, right? He had that beautiful rush sequence against Cody C.C. Where he steals the puck, puts it through the legs, nearly tucks it in on the other side. Then he set up another one with his dynamic passing play for Dylan DeMello, which should have been him hammering at home, but he kind of just flubbed the shot. And so they didn't get anything out of it.

but if that continues, this is the perfect environment, I think, for him to thrive and get rid of a lot of his postseason demons. And then you mentioned Shifley there. Winnipeg's top line, 5-1-5, shots on a goal, 12-2, high danger chances, 6-0. They scored the 3-2 goal. They combined Thalardi, Shafley, and Connor did for 25 shot attempts, and it was really nice to see Shifley come back after missing the last two games. He plays 22-36. I thought was supremely effective in those minutes. So those are all, you know, glass-half-full, I think, interpretations of this game for Winnipeg.

They'll lose the game at home, yet there's a lot to build off because, and part of this is score effects driven, right? Like once Dallas was up 3-1 and then heading into the third up 3-2, you could tell they were sort of nursing on the road, a one-goal lead across the finish line, shot attempts in that third period were 31 to 10 for Winnipeg, which is reflective of the scoreboard. Yet for the Jets, whether it was those rush opportunities I cited

or even off some of the offensive zone sets after they'd win a face-off, they were getting some really good looks on their part, and I think there's a lot to build off of their offensively. And we know that the stars, and as we're going to talk about in a second here, especially with the way Ranton is playing, they're going to create a ton of their own offense as well. And so this could be, you know, surprisingly a really high-scoring, fun back-and-forth series.

And, you know, this game won really, if nothing else, just wet my appetite for six more games of this. Yeah, and if you're the Jets fans, you look at what, you talk about that top line. First of all shooters in both games with seven shots on goal in this game. And he was much better than I was expecting him to be after sitting on the last game. He was, he brought what you wanted him to bring to a game like this. But that whole line, Valardi, I love Gabe Blardi.

I liked him when he was in L.A. I thought he was a guy that I surprised they let him go. And he could be a difference maker in this series. His ability to find open areas from the dots into the, into the crease are amazing. And his, you talked about his high danger chances, depending on which stats you look at. He led the Winnipeg Jetson high danger chances from that. area of the ice. This top line can make a difference. And I think it's important that they, that they do it at home in game two before matchups get a little bit different before they had to

Dallas. But the other thing you talked about is, is that Eelers, the Mescoopperfetti, they're creating chances. I thought Nieder Rider was getting some looks. Lowry was playing tough. This is a team that playing a different style against the Dallas stars a little more freewheeling. I think that's going to open things up for the Winnipeg Jets. I think Jets want to play like that. I think this is a good sign for the Winnipeg Jets. I know they come up on the short end of the stick in game one. And I think one of the biggest things, and we may talk about is the power play for the Winnipeg Jets

that was the best power play during the regular season. Without Morrissey on the top, you saw their inability to finish on the power play, but they had great chances on the power play. They had really good chances down low, and it's funny to see the Dallas stars just, here you go, pick that low play. We're going to give this to you all day.

That's going to cost them as this series goes on. Well, let's put a pin in that. I really want to circle back to that and hammer it. the story here though and where we buried the lead is Miko Ranton who gets another hat trick in the second period. Here's a couple of genuinely outrageous stats to

piggyback off of that. So between the third period of game seven in round one and game one second period round two here he scored six goals in 14 minutes and 53 seconds of ice time between those two hatrics he has a point now on

12 straight stars goals he has three plus points in the second period of game six, third period of game seven, and second period of game one here. You know, Winnipeg, really, you could see from the matchup perspective here with last change, they want to have, ideally, the combination of Lowry and Sandberg out there for every shift against Raninen. They played about 50% or so of his 5-1-5 minutes. In this one, I thought Pete DeBurder, a really crafty job of sneaking him out there with the fourth line, right? He threw them out there in the second period a couple times with the Donov and Steele created those two.

even strength goals. And so I thought that was very nifty on his end. And ultimately, when you're hot, you're hot, right? Like I thought that early on in that half series, he was creating opportunities either for himself or teammates. And the puck just wasn't going in. It was a matter of time with how efficient and skilled a player he's been historically. And then in this one, you know, he tips a point shot. There's a loose puck in the crease that's sneak by a hellabuck that he taps in. The power play goal off a Jets defender. When you're hot, you're hot, things are going your way. And I can't recall another situation like this where things were going more in the favor offensively of a guy than Miko Ranton right now.

And, you know, he's carrying this team offensively. Yeah, it's interesting. And I wonder, I think Joe Sackick and McFarlane are sitting in, Chris McFarland are sitting at home right now just, I know they said, you just say, hey, we're past it, we're moving on. Yes, you haven't moved on from this. I think Rantan is playing the way he's playing right now because he's mad. He's got a chip on his shoulder and he wants to show, okay, you let me go.

I'm going to show you what I can do. And you know what? This guy could lift the cup several times for the Dallas stars in the length of their contract after beating. They could face Colorado four or five, six times in this playoffs. And they might beat them all six because of a guy like this playing the way he's playing with the motivation he's playing with. Now, when you go look what he did last night, the one goal on the tip goals, an elbow on Miller. Miller can't get a stick underneath Rant in the stick because he's putting his hand to his nose after he gets bonked by the goal line. But potentially an elbow call.

We talked about the officiating in game one. that's an alboin. He elbows him in the face. He can't make the defensive play. He gets a stick on it. Off Sandberg skate for the last one. Like, yeah, he got some lucky, oh, and he pushes Sandberg off one-handed for the one-handed goal and behind. Getting some lucky breaks here.

But luck comes to those that are best prepared. And Ratan is playing like that. I don't know who's going to stop him. Right now he's the Con Smyth winner, you know, two games into one game into round two. He's Con Smyth, hands down, give it to him. You have to stop him. you're going to have to stop the momentum of him. Kudos to DeBoer, like you said,

getting him in that double shift, finding a way to get him free from some more difficult checking matchups. He has been a guy that I don't know if I ever recall single player dominated playoffs like he is doing right now. This is going to be something that's going to be a problem for Winnipeg. They're going to have to find a way to neutralize a guy,

not just the way he's playing, but the emotional spirit that he's playing with that's helping his team out. It's a big problem for Winnipeg. I think even beyond the goals, there were a couple of opportunities from kind of below the goal line that he set up, one laid for Granlin that Hallibut got a cross on and other for hints in the slot. And so he was just full marks phenomenal once again here beyond just the goals.

You mentioned the special teams. Let's get into that a little bit here because I think on both sides, there's some interesting things to keep track of as this series progresses. We didn't see that many opportunities for either team in this game. On the one hand, you mentioned the Jets power play that didn't score, but created some really good looks. That was a hallmark of round one where Dallas, was pressure in Colorado up high

and essentially completely discombobulated them a big reason why Ray Bennett lost his job after that series because they were either unwilling or unable to adjust and work the puck down low and take advantage of that open area that was being created by that pressure. Winnipeg wants to do that. That plays right into their hands, right?

They ideally, for all the cross-ice action between Connor and Shifley and that's certainly there, when they're most dangerous, it's with Vlarity back, getting it down low, allowing him to cook. He's so good with his hands in tight. had that one really nice opportunity where he kind of tried to deak it around and onjure and onger got a pat on it but if those if there's that much space for him

that's going to be a problem for the stars so the kind of push and pull there is going to be interesting and then we saw the the fortunate bounds for rantine and the stars power play but one thing i'm watching as the series progresses and they get more opportunities is going to be in particular that paddened harley slap pass to why johnston's awaiting high tip in the slot which we saw them use a lot in round one one against the abs. I think those opportunities are going to be there. We've spoken a lot about Helibuck's lack of efficiency against some of those tips and stuff

in front of the net and kind of making them adjust on the fly like that. And I think the stars are going to try to really press down on that as the series goes on. So, yeah, I think the special teams battle here on both ends is going to be a really, really fun thing to track. Yeah, when you watch Winnipeg Jets, a team that was number one in the power play during the regular season, you have to look at it. They are that because they have so many different weapons and so many different options on their power play.

And one thing I always thought about the Winnipeg Jets power play that made them special was their ability to have movement with their players. They're not the stationary one three one. They have some movement and they'll pull guys down. And that movement causes difficulties with defending. I didn't see as much of that because they didn't have to. When you look at, they're taking away Connor and Shifley on the flanks. And that was their biggest concern. We got to take those shots away from the flanks.

And that low play, I'm telling you, I don't know, three or four times they got that puck down low. and you go, oh, oh, they're in trouble. Like, they had so much time to make that play down low because they're so concerned with the other three options. I would be surprised if game two, they didn't make an adjustment to at least be able to have that low defenseman, at least a little bit lower in the zone so he can help get a stick on that play coming down low because I don't know if you can leave that undefended for an entire seven game series and feel really good about it.

Winnipeg ends up with seven shots on four power plays, and a lot of those were grade A opportunities from in tight. So I think that will be interesting. The Dallas Stars power play, you're right, they do get the goal. But let's face it, that wasn't a great power play goal from great movement and they created some opportunities on the power play.

They had one shot. They had one shot on their power play. One shot, one goal. I think their power play is going to have to find a way to be better against the Jets. Right now, special teams, opportunities? Checkmark goes to the Jets. Unfortunately, on the score sheet, it goes to the Dallas Stars. Well, and that Jets powerplay is going to probably get a lot of opportunities because for whatever reason, Mason Marchman seems hell bent on being on a solo mission to give the other team as many power play as they can.

Another thing we saw in this game, and listen, like Jason Roberts hasn't played in a while, stepping into this environment, it's going to take a bit of an adjustment. So I'm not even going to evaluate his performance in this one. I did think it was notable. I was talking after that Ave series, what I wanted to see from this forward group, now that they're back at full health. and we saw why Johnston be given you linemates, right? He was kind of carrying around to Donov and Ben for the entirety of round one, hard match against McKinnon and McCar. They clearly want to get him out there as much against Connor and Schaifley as they can,

and they succeeded with that in this one. We saw him have a rush opportunity in the first period. There was a really dangerous scoring chance for him. I think they're going to need more from that combination offensively, and I like the idea at least of having him play with Robertson to give him another legitimate playmaker to get the, puck to them in space and allow him to cook there. The Jets defense, I want to talk about this with you because I think you and I have spoken

about Logan Stanley a lot this season whenever I've had you on. And I expressed, you can go back and listen to it, my concerns about him in a playoff setting. All of a sudden now, and not having Morrissey is a huge loss, certainly. But they put in Hayden Flurry for game seven. They put in Colin Miller here. And the Jets forwards just must be in complete disbelief. they're actually receiving breakout passes they can work with.

After a full season of watching Logan Stanley do that, watching Hayden Flurry now almost looks like Kail McCarr by comparison, like him just wheeling around behind his net. He's helped set up and spark the Needer Rider opening goal because he just quick-ups it to him essentially and makes a one fluid motion as opposed to just hammering it all the glass and it being a loose puck in the neutral zone. And so I think this has been an awesome story to see how well Hayden Flurry has played

And on the other end, I'm still on Luke Shenwatch because six games now, he's played since game three of round one against the Blues. He's played 84 or 5 on five minutes. The jets are down 11-0 in that time. And he was on for another goal against here. He made a bad play in particular on that Wyatt Johnson Rush chance that I mentioned earlier. And so they're just trying to cover up those minutes as much as I can. But yeah, I want to keep tracking in particular this Hayden Flurry story because this is the beauty of the playoffs, right? you get in, you're focused so much on the top players.

And as you cited earlier, the top players were the best guys for both teams in this game. Yet you're always going to have these sort of unsung heroes or guys who step into the lineup because of an unexpected opportunity and whether they make the most of it remains to be seen. And so this guy coming out of nowhere and being this revelation, I think is a really fun development here for the Jets. Yeah, and one thing the Jets need to do is they need the ability to move the puck quickly in this series. And I think we talked about the neutral zone and how this game yesterday had a complexion of, hey, we're getting up and down the ice quickly and we're going to need to get our speed boots on through the neutrazone. You can't do that if you don't have the puck.

And I know you've had concerns about their back end and when they've had Logan Stanley in the lineup, they can't move the puck like that. And I think you're looking for Logan Stanley. I think, I'm assuming they want him to be tougher or bigger in the corners. They don't need that right now. You don't need that right now against Dallstrat. you need to move the puck up quickly. And I think what happens is this series continues to go on.

And even beyond this, when you get into the Western finals, a player like Shen, and I love Luke Shen. He's a great guy. He was an Arizona Coyote back in 2017-18, almost 10 years ago, and I thought he was getting ready to retire. No offense to Luke Shen. But at some point, this game is faster than it was in 2017-18. The style of play is faster.

Everybody says play fast, get the puck up quick. That's how teams play. the big strong defenseman that can push people around in front of the nets, you need that, but that player also has to be able to skate and move the puck. And for Winnipeg to continue to progress in this series and see if they can go beyond that, it's going to be about their defenseman's ability to move the puck up and get the puck up quickly. And I'm not sure that Luke Shen can defend that way or get the puck up quickly enough.

And I absolutely know Logan Stanley can't. So I think Morrissey was a big loss, not just on the power play, but five on five, they need to get him back on if they're going to continue to go forward in this playoffs and especially in this series. Yeah, we get Morrissey and Hayskin and back on the other side. This series is going to be absolutely electric in terms of the firepower and just the playing style in general, especially if game one translates and this continues. The last thing, you know, in round one, this was a big story. Hella Buck was 26 of 31 on screenshots of five goals against on 31.

Ander on his end was 33 of 34, one of the best goalies in the league at that. We saw the one Miko Ranton and Tip that you broke down earlier. The one, I guess, catch-22 of the situation for the stars is, you know, the book is kind of out, if you want to put it that way, in terms of how you want to try to create against the Jets, the issue is that aside from Harley and Harley is one of the best defenders in the league at getting those point shots through and being very deliberate about what he's trying to accomplish with it, But beyond that, while Hayeskin ends out, I'm not sure any of these defensemen are ones that you want taking those shots. And so it's almost like a game of chicken in terms of which one's going to win out.

In particular, there was a sequence in the first period that made me laugh where Cody Cici was just bombing from the point. And it's like, I don't think anyone knows where the puck's going when Cody Cici is shooting, let alone Cody Cici. And so I want to see how that progresses as well. But yeah, this is a really fun one. I'm really excited to keep an eye on this moving forward. you got any other notes on this matchup? No, yeah. I think the Heisken and Morrissey coming back to this series and being effective because you saw it with Jason Robertson,

and it's great to have him back in the line, but he wasn't Jason Robertson yesterday. I mean, he was slow at foot. He couldn't get through up and down the ice like he normally does. He's not going to provide on the offensive side of the puck. He may not in this entire series. I don't know the extent of that he's still hurting and having difficulties in playing. And we might see that from Morrissey and Heisken and when they come back. Because you're right, Dallas doesn't have that.

Having said that, Lendell and Cici have defended. better than I was anticipating them in the first round against the Colorado Avalanche. They were very good at defending some of the better players from the Colorado avalanche. And that will need to continue if they're going to get by the Jets, but they can't, they don't have that guy that's going to join in the rush. They don't have that guy that's going to help out other than Harley. And that's not enough in this series. I think you are going to need offense from your defense to get through this series, whether it's from the Winnipeg Jets or the Dell Stars. It's going to be a great series. It's fun to watch.

All right, P.D., well, this was fun to break it all down with you and kind of our first and impressions on both these matchups. I'll let you plug some stuff here on the way out. Let the listeners know where they can check you out. Tell them a little bit about the YouTube channel and the goal breakdowns that you're doing up there. Yeah, just jump on inside the coaches room on the YouTube channel. I try to get to every goal in every game, although that's tough.

I'm going to do these two games immediately following this. So they'll be up today. And they're a little bit deeper dives. And it's not a 30 second replay. They're two to three minutes on each goal. So you can really see what happened. So if you're into that kind of stuff on hockey, you just want to see what happened.

Who made the mistakes or what went right? Check out inside the coaches room. And you can follow me on Twitter. S. Peters Hockey. Good stuff, buddy. We're looking forward to having you back on later in this postseason and doing this all over again. Give us a five-star review wherever you listen to the show.

Greatly appreciated a bunch of you have done so already. So thank you and keep them coming. Join the PDOCast Discord as well. You can be part of the conversation there with us and chat all night long while we're watching these games. That's all from us today. You don't have to wait too much longer for more PDOCs because we're back tomorrow with plenty more,

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