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A weekly hockey podcast from the Florida Panthers' fan perspective. Hosts Jacob Langsam, TJ Peterson, and Alex Lopez discuss the Panthers, observe league-wide NHL trends, and bring on interesting guests to interview.
Welcome to Panther Pori, the podcast where we're supposed to talk Panthers hockey, but sometimes we don't. Presented by Florida Hockey Now. Here are your hosts, Jacob Lanksome, Alex Lopez, and t j Peterson.
Speaker 2:Good evening, everybody. Everyone feeling better now? Meltdowns all done. Although the the freaking out about how big Boston is and, oh my god, game 1, everyone done? Everyone feel better?
Speaker 2:Good. 61. That's what a real ass whipping looks like. This wasn't a bunch of unforced turnovers that depth players capitalized. This was a 61 ass whipping.
Speaker 2:At one point, it was, like, 35 to 12 in shots. That's how you dominate a fucking team. Series tied 1 1. Welcome to Panther Prix. With me tonight is TJ Peterson.
Speaker 2:I'm Alex Lopez. Jacob is getting drunk in Chicago and didn't wanna be here tonight, but we still love you. TJ, mental health check. How are you feeling now?
Speaker 3:They let us get off the mat.
Speaker 2:I I wouldn't even say they let us. We got ourself off the mat.
Speaker 3:That's true. Yeah. They but they didn't have a they didn't have any way of keeping us down on the map. But that first period, I'm telling you, there was the goal against, obviously. Somebody missed a wide open net on, like, a breakaway rebound.
Speaker 3:So there was a breakaway save, and then the rebound, there was a wide open net, and somebody just banged on the shot. And in general, Boston was dominating. And they end they ended that period one nothing. And if they ended that period up 2, 3 nothing, this game could have gone totally different. But they just don't have the talent.
Speaker 3:They don't have the talent requisite to put away those kind of opportunities. And now we've got a 120 minutes of tape for Paul Murrays to look over. I I think I kinda tweeted this I definitely tweeted out at the end of the first period that the series had the luck of 1 coach, you know, just keep getting his team ready to be the best team they can, and one coach having watched their opponents film 6 hours a day for 6 months.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Because I I completely agree with you. I completely agree. Boston looked like a team that spent their entire off season game planning for this series that they knew was coming. How do we beat the Panthers?
Speaker 2:How do we counter the Panthers aggressive forecheck? How do we you know, what weaknesses can we try to exploit? And it worked for 80 minutes, and then Paul Maurice put the lines back together. And if you think this is a typical one one series where it's like, oh, we had back, you know, back to back blowouts. This thing is going 7.
Speaker 2:I don't see that. I don't see this as a 7 game series. I think we saw the Panthers establish themselves as by far the better team, the deeper team. Amazing what happens when your top 2 defense that don't each have the worst game of their career. And this isn't even a hyperbole.
Speaker 2:You know, look at the game scores from game 1. There were 2 players that were massively in the negative and it was Forsling and Ekblad. I guarantee you, you don't see that from tonight. I guarantee you see positive numbers from both of them. So, yeah, I see this as a 6 game series for the Panthers in the Panthers favor as we sit here today.
Speaker 2:I told you I was at a 2a half after game 1. I'm back down to a 1. I'm not saying Boston is done. I'm not saying it's over. I'm saying we know who the more talented team is after tonight.
Speaker 2:If there was any confusion after game 1, it's the panthers. Those were 2 completely different 61 wins.
Speaker 3:No. You're you're absolutely right. We go back to the last podcast. I said one of us is gonna be right and one of us is gonna be wrong, and get ready to hear the sweetest words in the English language to be heard, not said. I was wrong.
Speaker 3:Alex, you were right. But you you also hit the nail on the head by saying that, like, it's preemptive to just declare the series over. I still think Boston can win the series, but, generally, you've got the vibe that they have a script. And, in general, game 1 followed their script pretty well. I'm sure that they didn't script going down one to nothing when they were the team that played 2 days ago and the Panthers played 1 week ago.
Speaker 3:But in general, they didn't give up a a high volume of chances that they were nervous about Swamin stopping. Now they probably don't win that game if Jonas Johansson is in that rather than Swamin, but they had a good game plan. They executed it much better than the Panthers executed their game plan. That's how you win game 1 if you're the Bruins and lose it if you're the Panthers. Game 2, And it kinda looked like it was following the same script.
Speaker 3:Bruins were up one nothing after one period, probably should have been up more. That's one of the things that you should really think about, I in my opinion, at least I will, coming away from this game. The second thing that I'm gonna think about is that the Panthers gotta bounce. When it was 1 to 1, Steven Lawrence scored on a tip. We'll give the 4th line their flowers in a minute.
Speaker 3:When it was 1 to 1, Alex, what did you think the score should have been? I definitely didn't think it should have been 1 to 1.
Speaker 2:I thought the Bruins should have been up to maybe maybe 3 nothing in the first. I would say 2 nothing was more fair. Marshawn missing a wide open net never happens. But I thought once the once the lines were swapped, the Panthers took over the game. So, yeah, it was 1 to 1, but I'd I'd after 1 to 1 and you were seeing how the both teams were playing, in my mind, I was like, alright.
Speaker 2:When's the next one coming?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Exactly. I will And it's it's I go ahead.
Speaker 2:But I don't like, may maybe I'm missing what the bounce you're talking about was because it was like the Panthers 4 check forced to turn forced to turn over. Montour put a great shot on net that Lawrence deflected.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean, it bounces it's a little bit
Speaker 2:the bounce?
Speaker 3:It's a little bit of a unfair term. But in general, you're not gonna you're not gonna go a 100 out of a 100 on deflections like that. It's difficult. No.
Speaker 2:You're not. You're not. But deflecting the puck is a skill. I mean, in the same in the same vein, the Panthers got a lot of sticks on pucks in front of the net in game 1, and they were getting past Swamin. They were just trickling, you know, half an inch wide.
Speaker 2:That that was the difference in game 1. It was half an inch in either direction. Some of these deflections go a half an inch to the right and they go in the net. Boston shots are half an inch to the left or half an inch higher. And instead of bar down, it's off the crossbar and and and back out.
Speaker 2:Like, that was the difference in game 1. But, like, okay. So game 2, the Panthers got a deflection that went in the net. I don't see that as a bounce. I I see that as a, you know, a good play finally going in the net.
Speaker 2:Deflections in front of the net are always good things. You always want to collect the puck in the net in front of the
Speaker 3:net. And we and I will give the 4th line their flowers now to say that it's a great play by everyone on the ice. Of course, we're gonna point out the good thing that Kyle Ocposto did because he's our boy. We're biased in his favor, at least I am. He forces the turnover by immediately realizing where the puck is going.
Speaker 3:And for checking, I believe it was McEvoy who is forced to just get the puck off his stick like it's a live grenade. It goes right to Montour because McAvoy has no time to precisely clear it in a way that it won't hit the Panther stick at the blue line. And it's so perfect that he can just fire it right on net. And there's nobody within 10 feet of Lawrence.
Speaker 2:He is
Speaker 3:standing right in front of the net all alone, and he gets a great tip-off. So in that sense, yes, it's unfair to call it a bounce. I can't think of a better term. I like, in terms of a phrase, he rolled, you know, for tipping skill, and he got a high roll. You're not always gonna get a high roll.
Speaker 3:So that was it was good that it happened at that particular time.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That that's fine. I I I can see where where you're going with it. I I I just don't wanna I don't wanna say that that first goal was lucky because if with that, you know, if you use that definition, then every deflection goal is lucky. Every time a 4th liner goes bar down is lucky.
Speaker 2:Like, it I don't like I don't like you know, we use the term puck luck a lot. I think we're going a bit too far, but let's move on because no one wants to hear us talk about whether a deflection is lucky for 30 minutes.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Lucky, maybe not. But just kind of, you know, some sometimes that doesn't go in. This was one
Speaker 2:of the times where
Speaker 3:it went in. And if if that happens, you know, let's say they do the same play 3 times in the game, but they they only would if they succeeded 1 out of 3, it matters when that one out of 3 is. Because I think if it's in the 3rd period of this game, it may be the goal that makes it 3 to Bruins, for example. Right. The Bruins are a much better team when they are playing with the lead because they they are the kind of team that is just gonna be able to throw out line after line of scoring players.
Speaker 3:So you get off the mat, you get the one one, and then you go to the third thing that I'm gonna think about from this game, which is that Barkhav and Reinhart absolutely owned it. And to a much larger extent, even though Reinhart had an awesome game, Barkov played like a top 5 player in the league. He played like an absolute fucking superstar tonight. And if he did that in every game, there would be no question that this guy is, you know, a franchise center, but there'd be no question that this is the kind of guy going into every season you have to think about for the Hart trophy.
Speaker 2:Yeah. There's been questions about Barkoff's playoff play. Even last year in the run to the cup, he would flash and have some great moments, but it was very rare that he you were saying to yourself, okay. Barkov is the best player on the on the ice. Look at him.
Speaker 2:Not only shut down the opposing team's top line, but he's putting in a point or 2 through 6, or we're we're on playoff game number 7. He's been the best game player on the ice in what, 5 of them?
Speaker 3:Game 1 and Yeah.
Speaker 2:Game, 4 in Tampa were the only 2 you would say he wasn't the best player on the ice. He was defending
Speaker 3:Probably game 1 Boston. Okay. You're saying
Speaker 2:get some big game.
Speaker 3:The last game in game 4 Tampa.
Speaker 2:Correct. Monday night and game 4 in Tampa. But he was the best player on the ice tonight, 4 points, a power play goal. You know, finally breaking the seal on the power play against, Boston. They were over 17 at 1 point on the season.
Speaker 2:So hopefully, that kind of opens the floodgates and the Panthers can score some more on the power play up in Boston. Getting getting an assist shorthanded, like, Barkov was everything you want Sasha Barkoff to be. The Barkoff haters, like, they're all gonna be they're awfully quiet right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Oh, yeah. Like, this is not your night to talk if you're a Barkoff hater because
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:My god. Like, there there are games where he's the best player on the ice, and then there are games where if you mention another player first in that game, you're you're just you're being stupid. Like
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I I wanna give a lot of guys flowers. I gotta give Barkoff 3 times as many as anybody else. That was what he was doing all over the ice was ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Yep. And he also did more than his typical, like, just lightly grab someone in all the post the post whistle scrums that Boston was starting late in the game. Like, no. Was he throwing them like Matthew Tkachuk? No.
Speaker 2:But, you know, he participated in the physical stuff, which, again, the caveman, the fan base who call him Sofkov, they're like, oh, he never, you know, he never does stuff post whistle. He never hits. Well, he was hitting the night. He was wrestling tonight. Like, he did everything you want your captain to do in a playoff game.
Speaker 3:I think that this is the Sasha Barkoff game. Like, he's had plenty of very good games in his career. This is in my opinion, it stands out as the best.
Speaker 2:In terms I don't know if it's his best because, you know, he's had some hat trick games, some 6 point 9 games. But in his playoff career, absolutely, this was his best.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I think that's fair. But, man, like, when when he and Reinhart were out there, sometimes it was with Tarasenko. There was one goal where they fed each who 1 and great worth by by the 2 of them. They they were great.
Speaker 3:I wanna go back to that.
Speaker 2:Was Tarasenko just not on the ice for that shift, and it was like a one time one time, like, one time shift where a was on the first line, or was just Tarasenko already off the ice and then took a quick 22nd shift?
Speaker 3:I think it was the the inverse of what you're you're saying in the second one where, like, it was just loose to rain and end of shift.
Speaker 2:No. Because I'm I'm no. The leucine and gold came at the beginning of the second period.
Speaker 3:3rd period? They
Speaker 2:oh, I'm sorry. Beginning of the 3rd period, and it was, like, 30 seconds into the period. Oh, it was, like, bad. Yeah. It was, like, 30 seconds.
Speaker 2:May okay. So maybe loose line was out there. I see what you're saying. Lucerina's line was out there. Barkov and Reinhart came on for the line change.
Speaker 2:Okay. I see. Same thing. Just reverse order. Got it.
Speaker 3:Right. Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like, I I do wonder about the 3rd player on that line because it's more that Evan Rodriguez was just an absolute dog tonight. Like, he didn't necessarily have the finishing, playmaking. Like, it it wasn't bad or anything, but, like, you you can't necessarily say somebody had an amazing game if they didn't have a point. But, like, what I can tell you for sure is that he was an absolute fucking dog tonight. Head down, just Just screaming bullet into, like, any play, like, get into the middle of the ice at will.
Speaker 3:And I think that you could tell at the end of the game that Boston was pretty frustrated with him because it it wasn't like he was doing the dirty Marchand stuff, but they were still going after him in particular.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah. I mean, they were slashing a stick out of his hands behind the play.
Speaker 3:Like, that was that was hilarious. I have to admit. That was hilarious. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, technically, it's an interference penalty slash slashing penalty, but whatever. Let me Panthers have this reputation as dirtiest team in the league when you've got guys like Lomberg, Tkachuk, and obviously Nick Cousins. They weren't the dirty ones tonight. It was Boston, and Boston lost their composure. I mean, what the fuck were you doing, Pat Maroon?
Speaker 2:Like, what were you doing?
Speaker 3:I think that you can you can say, Jim Montgomery sent the team a message by pulling Swamin in the 3rd period, and let's not forget to talk about that. And, so we'll get well, I'll try to get back to it if I remember. But I think that the message that the team actually received was, this game is over, guys, so focus on something other than trying to win, and they did. Yeah. The thing is that that you can't this isn't the Leafs.
Speaker 3:You know, Florida, like, knows how to go down that road. They they know which way that road goes. They're not looking up the directions for the first time. So it it's it's sorta like, you know, trying to pull a Michael Phelps into the water. It's like, okay.
Speaker 3:That's sort of his environment. That's his preferred environment.
Speaker 2:Right. Like, you're you're not going to intimidate this Panthers team by playing chippy. I mean, personally, I'm I'm wondering if the Department of Player Safety is gonna, you know, look at Pat Maroon because that that cousin's play was just so late. He came off the bench and, like, you know, it had been a good 45, 50 seconds after the whistle, and he goes to start something with Nick Cousins. Like, I don't know what you call it, but, like, he was just so late and so bizarre.
Speaker 2:Like, that's not something that ever happens in an NHL game. Like, what do you do in Pat Maroon?
Speaker 3:The word I would use is blatant.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Blatant. But, like, again, it's not like it's not an intent to injure because it's not like he really did anything that bad. He just start tried to start a fight with Nick Cousins. And, honestly, who can blame him because it's Nick Cousins.
Speaker 3:But Yeah.
Speaker 2:Again, it's just so late that it's not something that you you ever see in an NHL game. And like I said, I kind of wonder, like, is the department of player safety gonna give, you know, give them a little $5,000 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct or something. I'm not saying you should be suspended. I'm just saying, like, it's kinda one of those things you have to acknowledge, like, hey, man. This is just so far out of the norm.
Speaker 2:Like, you you owe us you owe us a check.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I I sure hope he doesn't get suspended.
Speaker 2:No. He's he's awful.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That guy's that guy's pretty fucking slow. You think Kyle look post so slow. Look at this guy.
Speaker 2:The slash on Lindell, I can't and he was like, Wetherspoon, some defenseman. That one I actually thought should have been a major. Witherspoon, that should have been a major. Like, that was well after the play in the ankle, like, clear intent to injure. I was kinda wondering what the hell on that one, especially since it was so late and after all these other misconducts had been handed out.
Speaker 2:I thought he was gonna get tossed for it, but he didn't get it. Again, I would think another $5,000 fine for slashing. Talk about Matthew Tkachuk just absolutely catching a body.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean, you can't say about Pasternak that he didn't back down, but he he probably wishes he did back down because there's an old Mark Twain saying that essentially goes, like, better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. That's sort of how that fight went for David Pasternak.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I I I look. Like, you know, you meant you it's been banning about that, you know, Montgomery, called the code red and, you know, go from winning the game to trying to start fights. David Pasternak is the one person on your team you don't want doing that. And he picked a fight with Matthew Tkachuk who, well, doesn't fight a lot.
Speaker 2:He wins that he wins that battle 10 out of 10 times, and we saw it like that was an absolute knockout blow. I mean, we'll give we'll give pasta a little bit of credit, you know, just in terms of respect that he got back up and kept swinging and did land a few shots in on Kajuk. It just happened to me that Kajuk was being tackled by 2 lines and that was the only way he could get a shot in. But, hey, take a punch like that and get back up. I'll give you a little bit of respect, but, probably not a good idea to do that again.
Speaker 2:I mean, look, I'll take all the pasta fights you want. I mean, there's basically 2 players on the Panthers that, you know, they quote, unquote lose or tie the the battle of coming off the ice for 5 minutes, and it's Tkachuk and Barkoff. Pasta can take a take, coincidental 5 minute majors with anyone else on the team, and the Panthers win that they win that trade off.
Speaker 3:Honestly, it was getting to the point in the game where I was kinda happy if a star player would have thought because that meant that they were gonna be off the ice for a long period of time. And I think that they were there were there was a likelihood that guys on the Bruins and, let's be honest, the Panthers, to some extent, were gonna do some cheap shotting.
Speaker 2:Oh, we saw it. We saw it with Weatherspoon.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Exactly. So when when you take a a Cachaca off the ice for 5 minutes, 5 minutes where nobody's gonna blind sign hit him or, you know, try to slash him in the go nads or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Did we miss any of the rough stuff?
Speaker 2:I thought, you know, all the coincidental, 10 minute misconducts was fine. The game was out of hand. So just get guys out of here and and get to the end of the game. That I think that pretty much covers it. Pat Maroon's a moron.
Speaker 2:Oh, Montour wooing right in Marshawn's face was great.
Speaker 3:That's excellent.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think I think that covers it. You wanna talk about the goalie change? Go for it and then I'll give you my 2¢.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I I mean, that's really what I wanna set up, your 2 cents. The way that I see it, I think that they just kinda told Swamin, hey. Like, let's let's just give you the rest of the game off. No more getting your ego bruised, you know, no potential for injury, white flag.
Speaker 3:That was the way I saw it. What did you think?
Speaker 2:I didn't see it as a white flag. I saw it as Montgomery trying to buy a time out and try and slow down the momentum even though he still had his actual time out. But I think he was just trying to be like, alright. I've got 2 aces in my sleeve in terms of goalies and he does. Why does all mark is a fantastic goaltender?
Speaker 2:Maybe if I swap, I, you know, I do a change. I buy some time for the team to regroup, get their shit together. And if he can hold the Panthers to 4, look, 3 goals in a period isn't unheard of. They literally did it to us on Monday night. So I I I don't think he was waving the white flag.
Speaker 2:I think he was just he was playing his last card to try and turn the game around. And when that didn't work, he he called the code red.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That makes a lot of sense to me. I think that that's equally, if not more plausible than my theory.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I still think he's showing Barkoff out of his 3. I think he makes a switch just because the plan has always been like, he said in the first round, hey, both goal is gonna get a game and then I'd go who who who's looking more comfortable. And let's be honest, Swamin Wall, very good early in the game. He was given up rebounds late.
Speaker 2:Like, the pan you know, you said it like, it could have been 4 or 51 at the end of the second period. Panthers just missed some chances. Like, the the swimming, you know, aura was wearing off. So maybe you give it, like, you give him Friday off. And again, you haven't I know you have literally last year's Vesna winner on your bench.
Speaker 2:You give him game 3 and, you know, you make your decision from there. If I'm Montgomery, that's what I do because you have 2 one a goalies. You'd, you know, go to all mark, see how he does in game 3, and then make your decision for game 4. That's how I'd play it. You know, I think it's a lot different of a situation than Stellar's Bobrovsky, even though, you know, Stellar's had a fantastic season.
Speaker 2:He's unproven in the playoffs. Linus Hallmark isn't.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I'm I'm gonna still say I think that it it will be Swamin, but I'm definitely not convinced. And to play devil's advocate on what I myself think, I'd say Bobrovsky, and Stolarz is a great example of what the Bruins tandem is not and what Swamin is not in terms of Bobrovsky. Where Bob is one of those guys that is used to a starter's workload. He's used to playing 60 out of 82 games in a regular season.
Speaker 3:He's used to playing 4 playoff rounds. I mean, I guess that not really, but, like, he did do it last year, and he kinda realizes going into every year that that's likely what it's gonna take. Swamin's just too young. He's never really done that. I mean, he wasn't even really the starter this year.
Speaker 3:The guy that came in and won the last year.
Speaker 2:They literally alternated goalies like the last 30 something games of the season. Like, it did not matter what happened the night before. They were swapping goalies. So again, that's why I think they they go to all market. I don't see it as a panic move if they go to all mark.
Speaker 2:The the problem I see is you run into the same thing the same mistake Montgomery did last year. If you wait till game 6 or 7, it sends it sends the message that you are panicking. If you're doing it now at 11, it's just like, hey, man. I got a one a goalie that's sitting there rested. Why why wouldn't I play him?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I think that you got a real strong case to do that instead, but we'll we'll see. Unlike 5545, it's gonna be Swamin, but, you know, not gonna be surprised either way. I wanna I do wanna give out some flowers, but while we're talking about Swamin, there's a common thread between him and something that I thought the Bruin struggle within this game, which is just that, like, there there appeared to be fatigue. And the moment where I really was thinking about this was when Brandon Carlo got completely eliminated from a play by Sam Reinhart.
Speaker 3:And Sam Reinhart's got decent size, but he's not a killer. You know? He he's not jamming you into the boards and putting you down for the counts. And he was down for the count.
Speaker 2:No. It could just
Speaker 3:be a factor of go ahead.
Speaker 2:L Elliott Freeman, I was listening to 32 thoughts on the way to the game tonight. And when he got to this series, he was like, look. When you when you're playing a rested team and you're the team with on no rest after playing a 7 game series, it's not game 1 that gets you. It's game 2. It's game 3.
Speaker 2:It's game 4 as the series goes on and you're still play and you've had to play every other night for 2 weeks and it's playoff games like, I mean, look, I never played in the NHL, but like anyone who's played competitive sports, like, the playoffs are just different. They're harder. You go, like, you go the extra mile, like you finish every single game absolutely gas because you put it all on the ice to feel the court, whatever it is. So, like, it's gonna it's gonna catch up to Boston eventually. And I think you said it exactly right.
Speaker 2:Like the Brandon Carlo play with Reinhardt, and I know what you're talking about. That was an absolute sign of it's like, oh, Boston is not gonna be able to keep up this pace 7 games. And it's again, why I'm feeling very confident about this series. Is the series over? No.
Speaker 2:I am just saying my concern o meter is back to a one, and I don't I I'm not seeing the path outside of dominate special teams, dominate gold, get insane goaltending, essentially the same thing we said for Tampa. The 2 teams roster to roster, the Panthers are better, and we saw it tonight.
Speaker 3:Yeah. If you wanna say, and I think it's fair to say that in the first period, the Bruins had a game plan that was just better than the Panthers or just it countered the Panthers better than the Panthers countered the Bruins. I think it would be be fair to say that. But the fact of the matter is they didn't have the talent on the ice to capitalize on it to get to a 2 nothing, 3 nothing lead, even though they probably had the chances. But, you know, Marchand's no spring chicken.
Speaker 3:There's no Bergeron. There's no Krejci. There's no Chara. There's no whoever you wanna say. Bobby Orr.
Speaker 3:Name any fucking Yeah.
Speaker 2:There's no Bergeron.
Speaker 3:Yeah. There's They're gone. And the replacement is not, you know, some awesome player. It's it's Morgan Geecke, who's fine. You know?
Speaker 3:Morgan Geecke's a complimentary player. Is he a super strong the playoff series? God, no. And, you know, now Morgan Geeke is gonna have a hat trick in game 3, so I'm gonna be made to pay for it. He's a good player, you know, but he is he Patrice Bergeron?
Speaker 3:Is he Carter Verhage? No. He's not.
Speaker 2:No. You you didn't have Brandon Carlo going bar down. You didn't have a 26 year old former ECHL or undrafted rookie, you know, doing a, you know, forehand, backhand breakaway and roofing it over Bob. Like, so many things went Boston's way in game 1. Didn't all of a sudden when they don't happen in game 2, look what happens.
Speaker 2:You got boat race. Like, it's Yeah. If Marshawn is if Marshawn and Pasta aren't scoring, there is no path to win the series. It's that simple.
Speaker 3:I mean, I don't know if I agree with that necessarily, but, like, it's a it's a narrow path.
Speaker 2:You need 2 depth goals a game and win every game 2120 if if those 2 guys aren't getting on the scoresheet. Sheet. Like, I I just don't see that happening. I don't see that happening 3 more times.
Speaker 3:They got nice depth players, but they don't even really have, like, the Daniel Sprom. You know, who who's who else is, like, a random depth player that might have, like, a 28 goal season out of nowhere?
Speaker 2:You're just an an o a lot like, their version of Vladimir Tarasenko is James Van Reemsdyke who, at this point in his career, is more like Kalog Pozo.
Speaker 3:Yeah. They they they're gonna have to, like, game plan perfectly, execute basically without making mistakes, and, you know, a mistake like not putting that goal into the open net in the 1st period is probably fatal when you just have this level of talent disparity go against you. Like, they they had a a perfectly fine game plan, I thought. Yeah. It it it frustrate
Speaker 2:it it frustrated the Panthers when they had the wrong line combinations out there. And as suit like, the only thing the Panthers changed, they didn't change anything about their structure, their forecheck, their defensive systems. The only thing they did is went back to the lines that got them here, and that was it. The game completely flipped. It was the 2nd, but Barkov and Reinhart were back together.
Speaker 2:Oh, this line's working. Tarasenko, all of a sudden he is with Barkov and Reinhart. Oh, this guy who hasn't gotten a shot since game, 3 against Tampa. He's got a bunch of shots and looking dangerous. Like, all of a sudden, everything could Chuck is, you know, making plays.
Speaker 2:Like, all of a sudden, everything worked again, and there was no counter. It was that's it. Like, it's over.
Speaker 3:Yep. You get the 1 again, not a bounce, not a break. One thing goes in your favor. You capitalize on an opportunity at the perfect time, and the switch flips.
Speaker 2:Yep. And it's off to the races.
Speaker 3:Let's give out some flowers.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I was gonna say, let's give out some flower flowers and let's get out of here because we're we're up on 40 minutes.
Speaker 3:The 4th line is the one that that, flipped the switch. Yeah. Great shit. Like, they've they've been good in this series the entire time, even when things have been going bad. And it's really not that surprising that they were the ones that, when it was looking precarious, went out there, did their thing, and got the good break, bounce, lock, whichever word you wanna use, that they that they deserved.
Speaker 3:It finally went the way it was supposed to. And then, you know, everybody on the bench for the Panthers gets a little bit more confidence. Everybody on the bench for the Bruins thinks to themselves, we just played that first period. We did. We didn't make any mistakes.
Speaker 3:We forced a ton of Panthers mistakes, and now the game is tied, and the belief goes out of them a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then you're off to the races just like you said.
Speaker 2:Yeah. More flower. I mean, we already talked about Barkoff, but we'll mention him again. I thought Montour was a lot better. Yes.
Speaker 2:He had to turn over even though I I kinda thought he got held by Charlie Coyle to cause that turnover. But the way that game was called, like, they were letting a lot of that go. So it's not really something you should be complaining about as a Panthers fan. But, like, I thought Montor had a good game. Forsling obviously was fantastic.
Speaker 2:Looster Ryan and that was strong even without the regardless of the goal. The there there is no one that I I look at that in the lineup that was in the lineup tonight and says and say, hey, you've gotta be better. And I also think you bought yourself more time with Sam Bennett. Sam Bennett. He put unless all of a sudden Yeah.
Speaker 2:Unless he's all of a sudden just, like, a 100% healthy, you're you're you're waiting until Sunday at this point.
Speaker 3:I also wanted to say that OEL and Koolockov were tilting the ice basically the entire game.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:Which helps because, you know, they're they're getting sheltered minutes and they're really, like the depth of the Bruins is not great. So
Speaker 2:Yeah. But if but if if you can get quality you can get quality minutes out of your 3rd line. You don't have to play Forgley 30 minutes a night. Like, the way you win a cup is by being able to roll 3 pairings, roll 4 lines in the first two rounds. So when you get to the conference file and you get to the cup final, everyone's got gas in the tank to, you know, then play 30 plus minutes a night or your top guys can play 30 plus minutes a night, and you're really sheltering your bottom players.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And, you know, that's how this game went.
Speaker 2:The the Yeah.
Speaker 3:The guys on the bottom were holding down the fort while the guys on the top were kinda figuring it out or the coach figuring out how to get them going. And once they got going, they carried the team to, you know, this blowout victory.
Speaker 2:Yep. That's pretty much it. Game 3 Friday night, I think it's a 7:30 puck drop. You changed absolutely nothing. 7 o'clock?
Speaker 2:Okay. 7 o'clock puck drop. You don't change anything. I know people are asking about Lomberg and Gadovich. Sorry.
Speaker 2:You'll stay in the press box for now. There's no room on the 4th line. Stenlund, I I still don't think it's on the 3rd line, but, again, you the only person you take him out 3rd line for is Sam Bennett. I think he's really got Lombard and Gadsden are gonna continue to sit. Uvis Balinska, he's gonna continue to sit.
Speaker 2:Not that, you know, anyone's gonna make any changes on defense. I'm just kind of going through everybody here.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Unless there's some sort of mysterious injury we don't know about. Like, you know, Gad Gajevic and Lomborg, they really didn't do anything wrong. I mean, I I think Lombard's had a disappointing season by his standards, and that's really the reason that he's not in. But also, like, on an he'd be playing on the Bruins.
Speaker 3:Like, he'd be in there. Oh, yeah. Panthers just are just so deep.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 3:they're rolling out Kyle Posto who was playing I don't know if he was playing top 6, but he was putting up top 6 production
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:For the Sabres. Yeah. You They got him on the 4th line.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You you your your break glass in case of emergency is no longer exact out.
Speaker 3:Steven Lorentz and Nick Cousins, by the way, because we're we're always gonna talk of of Pozzo when he does well. Both those guys were great.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Alright. I'm getting the the eye to wrap up, so we gotta go. See you guys after game 3.
Speaker 3:Alright. Everybody rate us 5 stars at, Cheers. We'll be there before game 3, obviously, because we're going to Boston. That's not true. We're not going to Boston.
Speaker 3:And, yeah, we'll we'll talk to you after game 3. Go Panthers.