Frederick Anderson's Wall and Svechnikov's Surge Put the Canes One Win Away!

The Carolina Hurricanes stand on the precipice of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, having taken a commanding 3-1 lead over the Washington Capitals through a masterclass in modern NHL hockey. While national commentators have labeled their systematic dismantling of the Caps as "boring," Hurricanes fans know they're witnessing something special: a complete team hitting its stride at the perfect time.

Frederick Anderson has emerged as the backbone of Carolina's success, posting a spectacular 1.40 GAA and .935 save percentage while making difficult saves look routine. His health and confidence have transformed him into the elite playoff goaltender the team always believed he could be. Meanwhile, Jaccob Slavin continues to cement his reputation as the NHL's premier defensive defenseman, adding unexpected offensive flair including a highlight-reel goal that showcased his exceptional skill.

As they head back to Washington for Game 5, the Hurricanes carry the weight of expectation – they've never lost a series when leading 3-1. If they can maintain their discipline, physical play, and commitment to their system, this could finally be the year Carolina breaks through to championship glory. Ready to join Erin, Katie & I for the rest of this playoff journey? Subscribe now and never miss a moment of Hurricanes playoff hockey!

• Analytics confirm the Hurricanes' dominance with superior offensive zone time (46.7% vs 39.5%) and shot generation from all areas
• Special teams have been exceptional with a 92.6% penalty kill and 30% power play conversion rate
• Frederick Anderson has been stellar with a 1.40 goals against average and .935 save percentage, making difficult saves look routine
• Jaccob Slavin is showcasing his elite two-way abilities with standout defensive play and timely offensive contributions
• Andrei Svechnikov has tallied 7 goals in the playoffs, playing with confidence and discipline
• The defensive pairing of Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker have contributed 3 goals and 2 assists in the past three games
• Rookies Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake have combined for 5 goals in the playoffs
• Jack Roslovic has provided a boost, going 9-for-10 on faceoffs in game 3 and contributing offensively

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, carolina Hurricanes have taken a
commanding three games to onelead versus the Washington
Capitals in their EasternConference semifinal series.
The Canes have done it mostlyby committee, but Frederick
Anderson, andrei Sveshnikov andJacob Slavin have all stood out
for the Canes.
Canes have never lost a seriesthat they've led three games to

(00:26):
one.
Will this be another to add tothe list Joining me to talk
about the series to date andwhat to expect in the coming
games?
Stormtracker Insiders ErinManning and Katie Bartlett.
Ladies, hello there, hey, okay.
So last night was fantastic.

(00:47):
The Canes went 5-2.
Again, the committee comingthrough.
You see it right up and downthe lineup Different players
making a difference.
I think they said 10 playerswere in on the scoring one way
or another last night, orsomething like that.
Clearly, the Canes are startingto drink the Kool-Aid and when

(01:07):
you hear the interviews afterthe game, they are definitely
talking like a team on a missionfor sure.
So what are we thinking?
What have we seen so far inthis series and what do we feel?
Erin, you want to kick it off.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Sure, I think what's really impressed me so far about
this series is that the Canesjust keep defying everyone's
expectations, and they're doingit in a way that is so clinical,
if you want to use that word,that the national commentators
have pretty much labeled theseries boring.

(01:45):
It's boring to watch a teamthis good do what they do at the
level that they do it at andkind of smother the competition.
I know Canes fans disagree withthat assessment.
It's never boring to watch yourteam win.
But I kind of understand whatthey mean because even when the
game last night started gettingclose, I never felt like they

(02:06):
were going to lose that game.
And there's just that sense youget when everything is firing
on all cylinders, like you'vesaid before, tom, that you just
know that they're in it.
You know they're focused,they're driven.
They have people that are, youknow, maybe waiting in the wings
to step up, that haven'tstepped up yet.
We saw that last night and Ithink that that's kind of been

(02:26):
the hallmark of the whole series.
Only the one game so far thatthey lost, you know that was the
only game where it just feltlike it was close all along, but
they never quite felt like theyconnected with what they wanted
to do, and you have to expectthat when we're in their arena
and they're getting theirmatchups.
But even there it's not been ablowout victory at any time for

(02:51):
the Caps, even in that one gamethat they won.
So this is different from whatwe've experienced in the second
round in the past.
It's really exciting to see,and I can't wait to see, how far
they can go.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Well Rod commented on the statements that the games
were boring by some of thebroadcasters.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
He said they're just lazy.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
They don't want to do the extra work to find out
exactly what's going on behindthe scenes here and that the
Canes are in fact, playing theway that Rod likes them to play.
So very, very true.
Now, katie, we're seeing itwith the eyeball test.
What are you seeing with someof the analytics?

Speaker 3 (03:27):
The analytics are definitely matching up with that
.
If you look at the hockey vizcharts for five on five, we're
used to seeing the Canes producea lot of shots, but this is a
lot, a lot of shots they'reproducing and it's not just from
the perimeter, there are shotsfrom everywhere that are
scattered all over the offensivezone.

(03:48):
They're in close, they'remid-range, they're from distance
.
If the canes have a, have alane to the net or think they
have a lane to the net, they'regoing for it and it's easy to
complain that so many of themmiss or get blocked or whatever
and I definitely am one thatparticipates that under certain
circumstances, you know,shooting the puck into the

(04:09):
defender's ankles make a move,create a lane, then shoot the
puck for, even if it's fromdistance, and we have seen some
of those pucks be verysuccessful in going in.
We we saw slavin's overtimewinner in game one and that was
definitely a shot from distance.
But when you have traffic andyou have someone as skilled as
Slavin who can get the puck onnet, good things happen.

(04:30):
So that has definitely beengood.
But it's not just in the O zonewhere the analytics are really
liking the Canes and the Canessystem.
Right next to the Canes chart,if you put the Washington
Capitals chart up, there are acouple of small pockets of red
where the Capitals are getting afair number of shots from, but

(04:51):
they are very small.
Everything else is ice cold blueand it just means that as hot
as the Canes are in theoffensive zone, they are turning
the temperature down on theCapitals in the defensive zone
they are preventing zone entries.
They are temperature down onthe capitals in the defensive
zone.
They are preventing zoneentries.
They are getting sticks on puck.
They are keeping them to theperimeter.
If there is a shot on goal anda rebound, they're collecting

(05:14):
the rebound and clearing it out,not preventing second, third
chances.
Their system is just dialed upto 10 right now in that zone and
the these charts and thesestats absolutely show that the
canes are dominating play so farin this series yeah, and, and
you know, if you look at the nhledge numbers as well, uh, zone

(05:37):
time canes.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Uh are leading the caps 46 to 7, 46.7 to 39.5 on
the offensive zone.
They're also leading the Caps34.7% to 43% in the defensive
zone.
So clearly a significantvariance here.
And it speaks to exactly whatyou're saying, katie, that the

(06:00):
Canes are just doing it theright way.
They've reduced the time intheir own zone, which has been
historically the way they play,certainly in the last few years,
and increasing the time in theO zone and, as we know, when
they're in that offensive zoneas much as they are, that
certainly reduces the potentialopportunities for the opposition

(06:21):
.
So going great.
Now let's talk a little bitabout, then, special teams.
So we've seen some interestingthings here.
A little bit of a change forthe Canes.
You know in past years we'vecertainly been delighted with
the penalty kill and they'rejust off the charts right now.
Of course, they went throughthat whole series with New
Jersey and didn't give up a goaland continued on into this

(06:43):
series and now sit at 92.6%,which is ridiculous.
I was going to talk about thepower play as well.
They're sitting at 30% andcontinuing to do a fantastic job
in the power play.
So if you take a look at kindof what's behind the scenes in
this, what do you see, katie?

(07:04):
What are you seeing in terms ofthe charts?

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well, if you put those same shot charts up, if
you look at the power play chartfor Washington, remember, for
offense generated you want to bea plus number and if you are a
negative number then it meansyou are not generating offense
and the Washington power play isat a negative 40.

(07:27):
I have not seen a number thatbig in a long, long time.
It just means that the Canespenalty kill is shutting them
down, Just not letting them haveany chances.
And the best example of that,of all the penalty kills, was
last night that double minor onMartin.

(07:48):
Yes, they have one of their bestpenalty killers in the box for
four minutes and the caps didnot get a single shot on goal.
They missed a couple of times,but not a single shot on goal
and we had three shots on goalin that time.
It was just zone entry denialafter zone entry denial, and

(08:12):
when they try to dump the puckin, we were the first to the
puck and got it out and sent itdown the ice.
It was just quintessentialdistilled to perfection penalty
kill from the Canes, and that isso much the bread and butter of
the capitals.
If the capitals aren't scoringpower play goals, their offense
just is ineffective.

(08:32):
And it's been such a key forthe canes, so that has been
going really well.
What's a little bit more of amixed bag is, if you look at the
canes power play, they're inthe negative as well.
No, it's not negative 40, it'snegative four.
So we'll definitely take that ofthe negative 40.
But it shows that, despite thefact that they have converted,

(08:54):
the most of the teams still left.
They have room for improvementand the the chart itself, if you
look at it, shows where thecanes are getting shots, and
there's a lot of places near thenet, especially where the canes
are getting shots, and there'sa lot of places near the net,
especially where the canes arecold when it comes to shot
generation.
Unlike 5v5 5v5, they've beengetting shots from everywhere
close, mid-range, long distanceand they've mostly kept to the

(09:17):
perimeter with their shots.
So if they can start convertingsome of that 5v5 energy into
their power play, getting theshots from more of a mid to
close range, crashing the net,getting those rebounds like that
Jackson Blake goal the othernight that was on the power play
that's when I think they couldreally start knocking on the

(09:38):
door of special teams andconverting even more of their
chances, which would absolutelyturn them into an unstoppable
force if they have their powerplay on fire as well.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
You know, all the analysts are going to tell you
the same thing the Canes haveoutplayed the Washington
Capitals by quite a margin, sothat's exciting, and I don't
know if we necessarily expectedto be sitting here with a 3-1
lead in the series and with thedominance of the Hurricanes thus
far.

(10:09):
Erin, did you feel like thiscould be the case?

Speaker 2 (10:14):
I felt like coming into the series.
You know, just readingdifferent analysis out there,
looking at some of the differentstatistics people were pulling
together for both teams, Ireally did feel like this was a
series that was going to be verywinnable for the Canes.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
The things that had me thinking that it would be a
really tough fight.
Or it might be six or sevengames, or it might be, you know,
just each game a fiercelyfought contest is that in the
past we've seen certain thingsrise up and be problems.
Five-on-five scoring, powerplay and goaltending has been in

(10:49):
the past at some times an issue.
None of those things arehurting the Canes right now.
They're really helping theCanes right now.
They've improved in all ofthose areas and they're getting
hot at the right time in allthose areas.
So what we're seeing, I think,is more than any of us really
expected in terms of just howeasily it has seemed and it's
not easy, but it's just neverfelt like they were, you know,

(11:11):
fighting for their lives yet, atleast in this series.
And I hope that it doesn't turnout that way, because we still
have some games to play.
But I think we're all veryhopeful that they're going to
carry that same energy into gamefive and that we're going to
see the same kind of game wherethey really take control early
and hold on.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
So we'll see well and they certainly you know all the
discussions yesterday after thegame.
All the players were pretty,you know, consistent in what
they were saying about beingready for this game.
They know it's going to betough, but they're going to
ready and they want to come outand they want to put the final
nail in the coffin, so to speak.
Let's see how that goes.

(11:49):
But you know, you mentionedgoaltending and I think we need
to spend a few minutes onFreddie.
Fred's numbers are gaudy,they're just unbelievable.
I mean, let's be honest, he'sgot a 1.401 goals against
average and a 9.35 savepercentage.
And he's made numerous savesand you know he makes a lot of

(12:11):
saves that might be tougher thanthey are.
He makes them look easy, I meanthat's when you know that he's
really on his game.
But what are we seeing withFred?
What do we feel, katie, yourthoughts on Freddie.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Well he's just to start start off with has been so
steady it never seems.
It never seems like he's phasedat all when the other team is
getting some chances or somezone time or getting some shots
through.
He's just square, he's focused,he's calm when he's making the
saves and he has beenparticularly good about

(12:47):
controlling second opportunities.
He's either been absorbingpucks and causing a stoppage in
play or he's been directing themto non-dangerous areas where
the Capitals have not been ableto get an extra chance on goals.
So that particularly has beenfantastic.
To get an extra chance on goals, so that particularly has been
fantastic.
And what's also impressivebecause it's one of the

(13:10):
challenges of being a goaltenderin the Canes system is the
Canes have dominated puckpossession, as you talked about
before.
The majority of the play hasbeen taking place in the neutral
zone or in the Canes offensivezone.
And so for Freddie to be somentally dialed in at all times
that even when it goes from abig lull of many minutes where
he sees no action, then all of asudden they're coming in on a

(13:31):
two, on one, or there's anextended opportunity for the
caps in the ozone, freddie'sready and he's just as dialed in
there as he is when he's seenan extended amount of work.
Just as dialed in there as heis when he's seen an extended
amount of work.
He the mental preparation thathe has been able to put into
this postseason, has been elite,and it's been so great to see

(13:54):
from him because we all knowwhat struggles and challenges he
has gone through in order toget to this point.
And so I'm I'm thrilled that hehas had this success and just
hoping he just dials it in forquite a while, heading down into
game five and hopefully farbeyond game five.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Well, the only thing really to add to that is that I
saw a comment on X the other daythat I thought really kind of
nailed it and it was.
You know, there's no such thingas good Freddie and bad Freddie
, it's just healthy Freddie andnot healthy Freddie.
We are seeing a FrederickAnderson who is playing at the

(14:40):
top of his game because he's inreally great condition, he's
really great shape, and I knowthat it was hard at the early
part of the season when thedetermination was made for him
to go and have the surgery thathe did have, but it's made a
huge difference.
You can see how easily he'smoving and you know and that
goes into that mind-bodyconnection stuff you know, the

(15:03):
mental being dialed in mentallyonly takes you so far if your
body won't respond.
And I think he's always had themental focus, but at so many
times he's struggled physicallywith things that he just
couldn't get past.
And so it's exciting becauseyou see the caliber of
goaltender he's always beencoming out and shining in these
playoffs.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Well, the interesting thing you take a look at the
NHL edge numbers and there was alot of discussion early in the
series about Logan Thompsonversus Freddie Anderson and,
yeah, the first few games veryclose for sure.
But as the series has gonealong, freddie has started to

(15:44):
kind of separate himself quitesignificantly from Logan
Thompson and the only area thatThompson is besting Freddie
right now is in mid-range savepercentage.
Everything else Fred's got tobeat.
So this is something you knowwe talked about before.
We talked about a lot.

(16:04):
You know, if your goaltender iswinning the goaltending battle,
you're man, it's easy, right.
A couple of other things too.
The players have been socomplimentary about Fred.
Of course they would be,because he's making big saves at
the right time.
You know he just got that newdeal, an extension.
He seems like he's a very happycamper right now.

(16:26):
He loves it in Raleigh, heloves this team, he loves the
fact that they can compete atthis level.
He loves this team, he lovesthe fact that they can compete
at this level and, as you said,aaron, and I think rightfully so
.
You know he missed a period oftime, okay, so he's rested now.
He didn't play a long season.
He hasn't had a grueling year,you know, and he shared games

(16:47):
with Piotr at the end of theseason.
So he's well rested and he's injust a great state of mind.
So I think, as you said too,fred's always been a great
goaltender.
His numbers in the playoffs arefantastic they always have been
and the only question is, youknow, is he going to be, you
know, stay away from injuriesand be able to play as he can

(17:11):
play, and I think we're seeingit right now.
So it's quite a story.
Some folks are even touting himfor a top player in the
playoffs right now.
So it's kind of interesting.
So one of the guys that makes alot of difference, of course,
to Freddie's world is JacobSlavin.
Jacob Slavin recently they putout this analysis of the top

(17:33):
defensive player in the NHL thispast year, and at the top of
the list was Jacob, and that'sgreat to see that.
We also saw that in the FourNations tournament.
Of course, he was lights out.
He's a heck of a player.
Katie, what are you seeing withJacob Slavin?

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Oh, like you said, just a dominant defensive player
who is leading the charge ofthat minus 40 that the Capitals
are suffering during the penaltykill or the other struggles.
Five on five.
He is their spearhead.
When it comes to that, he'sjust the one that exemplifies

(18:14):
all of those, all of thosemantras that the Canes put into
practice when it comes to the Dzone.
I mean just, it's a brokenrecord again that the zone entry
denials the stick work, thegetting in lanes, the body
positioning, the keeping playersto the perimeter, winning the
battles in the corner, everysingle one of those sound bites
that we're used to hearing fromRod Brindamore.

(18:37):
Jacob Slavin is the one that hasdistilled that down to
perfection in his play and it'sbeen wonderful to see him
dominate.
But aside from that, he's gottento show a little offensive
sparkle as well, and that hasbeen really good to see because,
while he might not have theprettiest shot, because his
stick work is so skillful andhis positioning and his

(18:59):
understanding of lanes is sostrong, a lot of times his
vision will help him do thingsthat other players can't do,
even though they are moreskilled, whether it again that
overtime winner where he's theone that's able to get the puck
through traffic and find thatlane or that absolute highlight
reel goal where he knocks thepuck out of midair, jukes around

(19:22):
Mason like he's a pylon justsitting there.
We know Mason's a good player hewas, he was on our team for
years and goes around him andthen just absolutely pinpoint,
snipes it through that littlehole.
I mean that that is justbecause of his vision.
It was.
You know, it's not his typicalplay, but because of his vision

(19:43):
and his stint work he was ableto make that happen, and so it's
.
He's just been a leader inevery sense of the word and
don't see that changing at all.
As long as the Canes are in theplayoffs, he's going to be
right there at the head of theline.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You know, and I think thatthere's no bigger proof of just
how much attention he'sgarnished as what I'm seeing out
there from whole groups ofpeople, some pundits among them,
who've suddenly discovered justhow low his contract that

(20:20):
begins in next year is going tobe.
They're asking how on earth didthe Canes sign Jacob Slavin for
this amount of money?
It's just crazy, because thereare a lot of defensemen in the
league who can't do half of whathe does, who are being paid a
great deal more.
And you know, when you, whenyou think about it, it has been,
I think, for a while, the ageof the offensive defenseman.

(20:43):
Everybody wants those guys thatyou know, the, the Bouchards and
the Quinn Hughes, and you knowthey want the guys that can move
the puck and score, or move thepuck and get get a lot of
assists.
They want the guys that canmove the puck and score, or move
the puck and get a lot ofassists.
I think that's why Lane Hudson,montreal, is another one of
that pattern.
But you forget that the role ofa defenseman at least some of

(21:03):
that role, needs to be to do thekinds of things that Jacob
Slavin is doing, and to do it athis level, and to be really
elite at that, it takes a lotmore than just being able to
score.
So yeah, his scoring on top ofit is the cherry on top of the
ice cream sundae.
You know, it's just incredibleto see this all coming out in

(21:25):
the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, and you know he played 24 minutes last night,
so you know he was.
Rod said I played him extra inthe third period.
I wanted to make sure that youknow we had our guy out there
and you know he just he'sphenomenal.
And again, I think you knowJordan Martin talking about on

(21:47):
one of the interviews, talkingabout Jacob was saying you know
they said is he a?
shutdown defenseman and he'sgetting some offense as if it's
a big surprise.
And Martinuk just said he'sjust a great defenseman.
You know, separate the two.
He's just one of the best inthe league.
So I'm glad you guys arefinally seeing it, so to speak.
In any case, great to see Jacob, and I think he's been helping

(22:10):
Burns as well, as he always does.
Those two guys are twin towersback there and through the
penalty kill and the regularshift against the top lines on
the other teams, these two guysare just you're comfortable when
they're on the ice, you justknow that things are in good
shape.
And it takes a lot for a teamto score.
When Jacob Slavin is on the ice, that's for darn sure.

(22:32):
And one thing he says, and theytalk a lot about, is that the
forwards help them a lot andthat helps them with their game,
particularly in you knowgetting the puck out of the zone
and you know getting out oftrouble again, and I think
they've really got it down to ascience.
But he's been amazing.
So one other player I thoughtwe'd touch on on the players

(22:53):
that have really stood out, andthis guy has been a great
surprise and we've been waiting,waiting for this guy to really
do it and he's getting a lot ofattention right now, of course.
That's Andrei Sveshnikov.
Seven goals, he's only trailingMikko Rantzenman.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
He's been incredible, but Svesh has seven goals.
Now who's?

Speaker 1 (23:13):
been incredible, but Svetch has seven goals now.
He's been playing great Erin.
What are you seeing with Svetch?

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Well, I mean, I'm not going to like pat myself on the
back here, but somebody taggedme the other day with a comment
that I made that I'd forgottenabout back when Svetch went out
with injury.
I said you know, there were alot of people at that time I
don't know if you remember thatsaying oh well, you know, it
doesn't really matter, he hasn'tbeen that good, we should be
thinking about trading him inthe offseason anyway.

(23:42):
There were a lot of people thatwere just ready to give up on
Svechnikov because, oh gosh,we've been waiting all this time
to see this.
And apparently I had saidsomething to the effect that
when he returned from injury hewas going to take the league by
storm, especially in theplayoffs, and so it's kind of
nice for me to see that comingthrough, because I did sincerely
believe it.
I have always believed thathe's a playoff performer.

(24:05):
I think that he's only beenheld back by the unfortunate
situation last season where hewas returning from injury and
you know, you're still you'regoing to still be playing a
little bit tentative.
People realize that now thatwith an ACL injury of that
magnitude, that whole year was adifficult year for him.
It wasn't just you come back inand, oh good, you're good again

(24:25):
, you can play.
Well, it takes a lot to getyour feet back under you and to
be able to play the way thatyou're used to.
So this season we're seeing it,especially in these playoffs.
He's kind of shed that last bitof hesitancy and he's ready to
go, and he loves being able toplay this way, and one of the
things that's been impressive isthat, even though he has taken

(24:47):
a little bit of penalty time nowhe's not been in the box that
much this playoffs he's beendisciplined and he's not been
losing his temper andretaliating and taking those bad
penalties that will get him introuble.
So that's a maturity issue too,and so a mature, strong power
forward.
Svetch is what we've all beenwaiting to see for a long time.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Katie.
Any thoughts on Svetch?

Speaker 3 (25:12):
Yeah, I was going to mention the penalty thing too.
In fact I think it's only noyou're fine, Katie.
Any thoughts on that?
Really good about playingstrong, but playing the right
way, but he's still physical,which is good.

(25:36):
He is not afraid to lay the bodyto go to the tight areas, but I
do believe.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
I think at least two, if notthree, of his goals are empty
net goals.
But here's the thing is, a lotof people like to wave those off
and dismiss something likeempty net goals.
But those are important, I meanespecially in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
Especially in playoffs, you have a team
pushing.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
The score is close.
It was 4-2 last night.
I forget, yeah, I think therewas another one in the
Washington series and then onein the Devils series that he had
, and those we've seen it.
We've seen it.
I suffered it with the abs andtheir star series because they
let Dallas come back on them inthree different games late in

(26:23):
the third period, including onetime, I think, when they had the
goalie pulled.
And so to have somebody who canjust absolutely cut that hope
out from underneath the otherteam by getting the puck up the
ice and getting it into theempty net, that empty net goal
last night was not easy.
He had to work to get the puckand then to get up the ice and

(26:46):
then go around the defender,which initially it rebounded off
the defender and he foughtthrough the defender and got the
puck back and then got it intothe empty net.
It's just there's not a lot ofplayers that do that.
Most other players would be offin the corner and they'd have,
and the caps would have hadanother chance to take the puck
up the ice and try to get backin the game.
So he has been so good and sostrong.

(27:08):
He's earned his place up onthat top line.
And now, if we can just get theentire line to be on that same
synergy together, we'd really becooking with let's see, tripp
says it oil, gas and gravy thereyou go.
You got your three.
You got your three on the top.
You got oil, you got gas andyou got gravy.
Let's get them all rollingtogether at the same time.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:30):
I think you're right.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
And for sure, you know, svetch, uh, he's playing
with confidence, he's, he'staking the puck up the ice and
he, he, you can see he's gotdetermination.
He wants the puck, he wants togo with it, he wants to get in
there, he's trying to make thosemoves.
He, he put one, rang one offthe post, that on a backhand.
That was incredible.
I's just.
You know, I think he's hadseveral posts, but that was one
that really stood out to me.
Oh, the first four, I think,yeah, yeah, he's been all over

(27:59):
it, so he's been playing great.
I was pleased to see that SethJarvis got that goal, so he's
feeling a little bit better.
We've got him up there in thetop line now.
I know you've been calling forthat for months, katie, so
that's good and I think you knowwe've got a situation where
these guys are they're startingto come together, and even Ajo.
You know we've talked a lotabout Ajo and some nights he

(28:21):
doesn't look like he's fullythere, but he's making things
happen for sure.
And one thing we're reallyseeing with Sebastian right now
is he's firing the puck, he'sreally letting it go and I think
I don't know if he had four orfive shots last night.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
So he was out there.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
He was shooting hard, which is great, and that line's
going to be key for us.
So I wanted to maybe spend acouple of minutes on some
honorable mentions.
There's so many players thathave been playing so well, but
you know there's some that Ithink we need to maybe just take
a second and give them a littlebit of a shout out as well.
The duel of Sean Walker andShane Goss to spare to me has

(29:01):
been a revelation and inparticular in recent days, of
course, they've been lighting itup offensively and, Katie, I
know you like Sean Walker, sowhat are you seeing with him
these days?
He's getting a lot of praisefrom Rod Brendamore, that's for
sure.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Well, my first introduction to Walker was when
the Avs traded for him lastseason at the trade deadline and
got to see him in the Avssystem.
In the Avs system he had quitea bit of offensive punch and
I've been waiting Ever since hecame to the Canes.
He, he has this sneaky, thissneaky offensive side to him.
He's a really solid defender.
He can hit, he can playphysical, but he's got this

(29:39):
offensive edge.
That should be really exciting.
And if anyone's followed me on X, whenever they put the predict
the first goal scorer, allseason long I've been like it's
gotta be Walker, it's gotta beWalker, it's gotta be Walker
forever for it to finally bewalker.
But it hasn't it.
It hadn't emerged in the in theregular season the way I had

(30:00):
been expecting, and I think alot of that has to do with being
on that pair with goss despair.
Goss despair is the offensiveengine of that duo and so
walker's had to hold himselfback a little bit and really
invest in his defensive game tohelp balance that duo out.
But he, he's starting to show alittle bit more of that

(30:21):
offensive flair.
He got that goal yesterday,which was just beautiful the way
that he drove into the zone andthen let Roslevic drive the net
and just hitched towards thecenter of the ice, just a touch
to get the defender and thegoalie out of position before he
wired that puck into the net.
That's what I have been waitingfor since I saw him play with

(30:43):
the abs and it's what I've beenexpecting from him on the canes.
And there it was.
It was fantastic.
And just to wrap up theexcitement I have for Walker
since the beginning of theseason I have been calling, I've
been saying I want to see aSlavin-Walker duo.
They just make sense together asa pair, the games really really

(31:08):
would find a beautiful balancetogether and it would open up
Walker to take for moreoffensive chances.
And on that goal, who wasWalker out on the ice with?
It was not Ghost, it was Slavin.
And so I'm excited that BrendanMoore is playing with that a
little bit more.
When he needs a little bit moredefense, when he doesn't want

(31:29):
to tire out Burns and overexerthim, he can put Walker on the
ice with Slavin and get thatbenefit.
I just think that Walker'sgoing to keep getting better and
better and I'm thrilled for himbecause I've been his biggest
cheerleader since the Canessigned his deal.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Well for sure, and you know, they've got Sean
Walker lined up for four moreyears at a very friendly I think
three and a half million dollardeal.
So he, he was a great signing.
You know, those two guys umthree goals to assist 17 shots
in the last three games.
I mean it's just incrediblewhat they've been doing, uh,
with ghost and sean walker.
What are you seeing with ghost,eric?

Speaker 2 (32:11):
well, I think we're all seeing that nice, nice new
dad's energy kick in there.
You know there's been a lot ofjokes about that, but no, really
what I see with Ghost is I'mseeing the player that we saw
we've seen before when he waswith us in the playoffs before
and then also at the earliertimes in this season, which kind
of confirms the point that youknow people were getting a

(32:32):
little cranky about Ghosttowards the end of the season.
Oh, you know, he could be afterhe had returned from injury.
And again, I think that's thattimeline of injuries when you
just don't know exactly how longit takes a player to go from
I'm okay to be back in thelineup to I'm playing at 100%.
And on that first goal lastnight we saw a player who was
playing at 110%, because it wasthe same kind of thing that we

(32:53):
sometimes see on the power play,but it's so much harder to do
it at five on five.
And I think, Katie, you sent mea link to one of the podcasts
out there that was commenting onsome of those goals from last
night and he pointed outsomething I didn't notice, which
was that one of the Canes I'veforgotten which one it was, had
already left the ice for a linechange, so there were only yeah,

(33:15):
it was Walker.
He'd left the ice for the linechange, so there were only four
canes on the ice when Ghost madethat, walking the blue line,
finding his lane and taking thatshot.
So that's exactly the kind ofthing that we see from him all
the time on the power play.
Usually they're up a man atthat point instead of down one.

(33:36):
Should that have counted as ashorthanded goal?
Let's ask.
No, but really that's just oneexample of the kind of thing
that he's capable of doing andthat's where I think that you
know, you do see the value ofthe puck moving aspect of these

(33:57):
offensive defensemen, when hecan get into those areas and he
has the control of the puck andthere's not a defenseman right
on top of him and he can takehis time to move along the blue
line and set up the shot,whether he's setting up a shot
or trying to go for a deflectionor just a really good shot pass
, you know it's.
It's great to see him being atthat level that we've seen

(34:19):
before, because, again, that'swhy they decided to bring him
back to um the canes and signhim again because they
definitely need that player.
You know they need that playerto be generating those things
and it kind of brings up anotherpoint that I think that you
know probably we should mentionjust real quickly.
We've talked about Jacob Slavin.

(34:39):
We've talked about Ghost andWalker.
We've talked a little bit aboutBurns.
What we're seeing in theplayoffs is something we were
waiting for all season Offensefrom the blue line.
It wasn't happening in theregular season and all of a
sudden all of them are clickingand chipping in and I mean you
want to talk about the kinds ofthings that make this fun for

(34:59):
canes fans.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
That's a big one well , you're right on and and for
sure.
The canes we talked about thisa lot.
Their, their style of play isreally built around that decor,
firing pucks, and you know theythey haven't had as much success
as we would have liked duringthe regular season, but they're
enjoying it now.
And just back on Walker for aminute.

(35:21):
You know Rob Brendamore wassaying you know he's had tons of
chances this year, like it'snot, like he's not out there
making it happen.
It's just that he had some badluck and some great saves and
we've watched that.
We've seen him many times go inand get great chances and we
knew at some point they weregoing to start to go in.
But I agree with you on thisthe decor starting to show some

(35:43):
offense and we still haven'tseen Burns take off.
I'm not sure if we will, buthe's a guy that definitely could
add to that offensive piece aswell.
He fires the puck a lot and atone of these times it's going to
go in off someone.
It seems like these series andI've been watching this a lot is
so many of these goals aredeflections off players in front

(36:05):
pushing, shoving, trying to,you know, make something happen
in front of the goalie andthey're going in and the goalie
can't make a save.
So you know, if we can get outthere and do that kind of heavy
lifting, I think it makes adifference.
And you know, when we talkabout the rookies, I think
they're worth mentioning as well, because they're doing some of
that.
I mean, we know that LoganStankoven loves to park himself

(36:28):
in front of the net and get inthere in the dirty areas.
We've seen gosh Jackson Blakehas no concern with picking up
the puck and trying to go to thefront of the net and try to
score, and he's had some successwith it.
These two guys have got fivegoals in the playoffs.
That's pretty good for a coupleof rookies.
Erin thoughts.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
I think that they've been great.
I think that it's interestingthat one of the changes that Rod
Brindamore made in Game 3 thathas then persisted into Game 4
was moving Jackson Blake down sothat Seth Jarvis could go up
onto that top line.
Concern about Blake's play, butI do think that he was starting

(37:15):
to be a little bit lesseffective in some areas of the
game.
And when you talk aboutpenalties, I think he's right up
near the top or at the top interms of penalty minutes on the
team.
That's kind of you know youexpect that from rookies a
little bit.
They're going to get caught outa little bit more often and
they're not going to get.
I know this sounds funny, but weknow that the refs like to
swallow their whistles in theplayoffs, right?
I think that rookies don't getthe benefit of the doubt as

(37:39):
often as veteran players do.
I've seen Blake called for somethings that were completely
ignored.
When somebody that's got alittle more experience does the
exact same thing, so that justthat's kind of goes with the
territory.
So whether it's that or whetherit was just the need to put
Jarvis up on the top line, hecan be effective on any line, so
that's not a concern.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
Katie.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Yep, I agree.
In fact I like Blake down onthat fourth line because I think
it gives him a little bit moreelbow room let's just put it
that way to do what he does best.
And he's still got some playersdown there that can work well
with him, most recently Robinsonand KK.
But he, like Aaron said, he canplay with anybody.

(38:26):
He can play any type of styleand he's willing to do that and
get in and muck around.
And speaking of mucking aroundand our rookies, it just.
I just love Stankoven, as TimDonnelly called him, mr Game One
, since he has scored goals inboth of our game ones and only
so far in our game ones of ourdifferent series.

(38:49):
But he has just been a dog on abone and the chemistry he has
with Taylor Hall has beenphenomenal.
The way they found each other,whether it's on the power play
or five on five, they just seemto understand where the other
one's going to be, which isimpressive because Hall is a
veteran who's been around for awhile and Stankoven this is only

(39:13):
his second playoffs, so he'srelatively new to the scene, but
they seem to understand eachother.
And that kid is just, he isfearless, it does not matter
where the puck is and who'sbetween him and the puck.
If it's available, he is goingto go after it and I don't bet
against him to be the one tocome out with it.
So I just think he's going toget better as he gets more and

(39:37):
more time, because he I mean,comparatively speaking he's
still new to the cane system andit takes a while to get used to
the way that the CarolinaHurricanes play hockey, and so
there's still probably a bit ofa learning curve for him to
absorb before he's truly,completely entrenched as a
Carolina Hurricane.
So I'm thrilled with hisproduction and his fit and his

(40:00):
attitude and can't wait to seewhat else he's got in the tank.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
Yeah, I mean sometimes I think we forget that
he's only been with the team avery short time and just because
of the way he plays and how hehandles himself out there, he's
so much like a hurricane.
You just think he's been hereforever.
But great player, key plays,he's made Obviously, that goal
in the first game was huge, youknow, and made a great play on a

(40:27):
goal to Robinson in game two.
I mean he's making it happenout there for sure.
And it's tough slugging.
I mean he gets knocked around alot.
We watch it.
He goes down, he gets crushedand he gets back up and up he
goes again.
So I think, again, both ofthese young guys, they're
contributing, they're makingsomething happen out there.
It's been tougher for JacksonBlake for sure.

(40:50):
He's still getting theopportunities.
There's no doubt about that.
He's getting lots ofopportunities, he's getting in
on that.
He's making great plays.
He made a great setup toKokanemi.
I thought that could have gonein last night.
It was a great move by himAgain, just fearless, getting
that puck and heading to wherethe action is and he's going to

(41:12):
get some goals.
He's going to get some breakshere, yeah, and great to have
these two guys out there.
It's a lot of fun as well.
An interesting story, as theymade some of the changes that
they've made and again, rodBrendamore making some smart
moves and he brought in JackRoslevic and Roslevic has done a
real solid job.
You know we look at the gamethe other night, not last

(41:34):
night's game, but he was 9 of 10in the faceoff dot Right shot
faceoff guy.
This is key.
Came of 10 in the faceoff dotright shot faceoff guy this is
key.
Um came up with a nice assistlast night on the whole goal.
What are we thinking about hiscontribution?
So?

Speaker 3 (41:48):
far, katie, I've been .
I've been impressed withrossovic because I would have
been the first of the line thatsaid everybody's healthy.
The guy that behind jose that Iwant sitting is rosselvick,
because I worry about him beinga defensive liability and those
concerns have not gone away.
It was his failure to clearthat led to the first cap school
last night.
So those those concerns stillexist but they're offset very

(42:14):
strongly with what he's beenable to produce between Hall and
Stankhoven, because Hall andStankhoven are very offensively
minded guys, without giving up alot on the defensive side of
the puck, and they need somebodywho will help them drive.
They need a center that willhave that same kind of process
and mentality and perhaps thatwas where there was a disconnect

(42:37):
.
Having KK on that line is thatKK is more of a defense first
type of center, and so it was abit imbalanced to have that
particular trio out there.
But putting Rostovic in betweenthem creates more balance,
creates more engine, createsmore puck possession in the
other end, possession in theother end.

(43:05):
So, as long as he is generatingmore offense than he is giving
up to the other team, I want tosee more of him.
I would really like to see himin game five tomorrow just to
see how he does when it's notthe canes controlling the
matchup with this new line,because um correct me if I'm
wrong I think he did play ingame two that they lost, but he
was fourth line.
He wasn't between Hall andStankoven at that particular

(43:28):
point, so I'd really like to seewhat that new trio can create
and produce in game five inhostile territory where the
other team gets to control thematchups, if they can still have
those strong possession numbersand be driving play in the
other team's zone and not beingtoo risky or dangerous in their

(43:50):
own zone.
But yeah, rasevich's earnedhimself the spot over Jankowski
at this point.

Speaker 1 (44:01):
Yeah, well, it's a nice luxury to have, because I
thought Jankowski was veryeffective in his work and
particularly on the PK.
He did a lot of heavy lifting onthe penalty kill and so you
know, again, great to have thisdepth.
And I know Brendan Morristalked a lot about the fact that
he doesn't remember having acomplete lineup like this to

(44:24):
work with in the playoffsituation and still do, even
though some folks are banged up,and we'll talk about that a
little bit later.
Final person we'll talk about,I think, is a heart and soul guy
.
He jumped in front of a shot toblock it, got injured the other
night, came back last night andplayed another, you know, lunch
pail type game and that'sJordan Martinuk.

(44:45):
Now I know, katie, you had somethoughts on Jordan.
What were you thinking aboutwith Jordan Martinuk?

Speaker 3 (44:50):
I just love the joy that he seems to be playing with
.
This is his time of year, thisis passion, this is hard work
type of hockey.
It's in the details and it'sdoing everything you can to help
your team win, even if it's notthe showy, flashy scoreboard

(45:12):
type highlights that he gave usin the New Jersey Devils series.
He shift in and shift out.
You never doubt martin nook isgoing to give you anything less
than 100.
He is there no matter what, andsometimes you see it in the
shot box, but a lot of othertimes it's just in the work
along the walls or the littlechip passes to his line mates.

(45:34):
Whatever it might be, he is outthere driving play and setting
the tone and a lot of timescreating the momentum so that
when there is a line change, theother lines can come in and
take advantage of that momentumand create results in the
process.
So he is just such anunderrated part of this team in

(45:56):
spirit and in practice, and I'mso glad that he is here because
I think he keeps them on thestraight and narrow.
I think he keeps the otherplayers on the straight and
narrow.
No one gets too high, no onegets too low, and it's thanks to
Martinuk.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
I would agree with that and I would say that it's
funny.
But it seems like every year inthe playoffs this is the time
of year when the commentatorsand pundits out there remember
that you know Martin Hook wasactually put on waivers at one
point and you know they like topoint that out.
I think to me it's just anexample, another example of the
kind of leadership that hebrings to the team, because he,

(46:35):
that was not a decision that theteam made lightly, it was not
something where they were reallywilling to risk losing him.
They did it very strategically,you know, knowing that other
teams that might be interestedwould be in the same cap
situation that they were tryingto alleviate as well.
But at the same time, there'salways a risk when you put
someone on waiver, so someone isgoing to take that gamble.
So the fact that he was willingto do that, because he was

(46:57):
trying to, you know, make surethat the team had the room they
needed for the greater goodgoing forward.
You know that's the kind ofleadership you can't really put
a price tag on, because theyoung guys see somebody who's
willing to go all the way towhatever the team needs, and
just you know, when you talkabout what makes the difference

(47:19):
between success in the playoffsand failure in the playoffs,
it's 100% effort, it's 100%execution.
It's doing the things you don'tfeel like doing in the moment.
And you know that's in thethird period, when you know
you've been battling all gameand you just don't want to take
that extra effort to get thepuck out or to do whatever it is

(47:41):
you have to do.
And you know I think that we'veseen that a little bit from
some of the players on the otherteam you know, and you know
you'll never see that fromJordan Martinuk and you will see
that resonate, like Katie said,through the lineup, because if
he's going to do it, then whoisn't going to do it?
You know, if Jordan Martin iswilling to be 100 percent, then

(48:03):
anybody who's sitting there atyou know 97 percent is going to
feel like they better do alittle bit better.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
Yeah, and that big shot block.
The other night Freddie wasincredibly complimentary to him
and said you know, it's justincredible, Like that's
fantastic stuff, complimentaryto him and said you know, it was
just incredible, like that'sfantastic stuff.
And you know how many times dowe see Jordan Martinuk diving to
get pucks out of the zone and apenalty kill or something.
He, you know, he just putseverything into it and and he's

(48:30):
a great guy in the room.
They love him, he's, he's.
You know folks wondered why didwe re-sign him in the off
season?
We had so many other playersthat we could sign and why do we
bring back Martin?
I think that whole question hasbeen answered very clearly.
He's playing great hockey Now.
A lot of folks playing very,very well.
Some folks we think can do alittle bit better.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
Erin, what do you got in your mind?
Well, since you probably want meto start with uh kk, I'll start
with kk.
Um, you know, the funny thingis is that we can talk about um
uh kokuniemi needing to producemore, perhaps offensively, um,
but he's played very welldefensively.
He's definitely played veryphysical game.
There's not been, you know, hehasn't been making the kinds of
mistakes that you know he wouldhave made in the past in the
playoffs, so I mean, there'snothing really there that you

(49:26):
can point to and say he's notdoing, you know, a decent job.
I think I'd like to see himscore, because I know he can
score in the playoffs.
I think that that's been thebiggest frustration this season
is seeing him not really scoringas much as I believe he can,
but you never know why a playermight be struggling in that area
, and so you just say, well, ok,I'd like to see that.

(49:47):
One thing, though, that I thinkshould put this into context is
that you know, right now he hashe does not have a goal yet in
the playoffs.
He has three assists and they'veplayed nine games that could be
improved on.
Yet in the playoffs he hasthree assists and they've played
nine games that could beimproved on.
But you also have to lookacross to the other side of the
ice, because right now Capitalsfans are extremely angry at

(50:13):
Pierre-Luc Dubois, becausePierre-Luc Dubois also has zero
goals and three assists in nineplayoff games and he's making a
lot more money and he is also anunquestioned, bona fide 2C.
You can't look at Dubois'regular season stats and say
that there's any doubt there.
He had 66 points this season.

(50:33):
So I feel like for KK it's like, yeah, we hold him to a higher
standard because we know he'scapable of more.
But I don't necessarily thinkthat when you look at center
performance in these particularplayoffs, and especially in this
series, you know he's doingwhat he needs to do for the most

(50:56):
part.
Yeah, okay, what he needs to dofor the most part.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
Yeah, okay, katie, anybody else that?

Speaker 3 (51:06):
we'd like to see, maybe contribute a little bit
more.
Oh, if you're talking points,there's only one forward that
hasn't notched a point yet,that's played multiple games,
and that's Carrier.
Yes, you know we can debate allnight long whether or not it's
something you expect out of him.
I don't think that offense ishis calling card.
His calling card is ahard-checking game.

(51:28):
Lots of hits really wear theopponent down and in that case I
think he has been particularlysuccessful.
I would like to see more of anet front presence from him.
Going back to what Aaron wastalking about with kk, kk has
made his presence known as a netfront um.
He has really been working toprovide screens, including

(51:51):
including on ghost's goal lastnight.
Part of the reason ghost wasable to score that goal was
because of kk's net front.
I would like to see more ofthat from carrie um, and whether
he's playing on the third lineor the fourth line well, what we
call.
You know we don't number thelines here, but whether he's
playing on Stahl's line or theso-called fourth line, which is
currently KK's line.
I just want to see him get tothe net front a little bit more,

(52:14):
because when he's greasy therehe seems to be more effective,
whether it's directly effectivefor him or effective better for
the those around him, being ableto create and produce
opportunities, because he'stying up defenders and taking
away the goalie's eyes and thatsort of thing.
So around the edges he's beengreat.
I'd like to see him be a littlebit more greasy net front and

(52:37):
get some more opportunitiesthere, regardless of which line
he's on.
But it'll probably come.
I'm you know, it's not thathe's been playing poorly.
I just think that there's aanother level where he can get
to.
That would make the Canes evenbetter than what they're, than
how they are right now.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
I think that's true, katie, and you know, one thing
that it might be with with uhCarrie himself is that, um, I
think that we forget how goodLogan Thompson has been in this
series and some of those kindsof goals in particular can be
harder to get when thegoaltender is really on fire,
because I know I think it was itwas either game three or game

(53:15):
four I felt like Carrie had areally good opportunity off of
uh when Stahl got the puck tohim kind of in that slot and
Thompson was just right there,you know.
So if the goaltender is as goodas the two goaltenders in this
series have been, some of thosetypes of goals, some of those
depth goals coming from thegreasy net front type of

(53:36):
presence, may not happen asoften.
So maybe we'll see it soon.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
Well, when you talk about hits, he's 18th in the
playoffs right now with 36 hits.
Eric Robinson is actually 16thwith 38 hits.
So he's got a few more thanCarrier, which is great, and
he's been certainly doing someheavy lifting for the Canes as
well.
But the one thing I was kind oflooking at with Carrier and it

(54:04):
also kind of goes back to ourdiscussion on Jordan Martin
because that line which isreally their first and foremost,
they're out there to shut downthe top lines on the other team,
for sure, but that line canalso chip in with some offense
and I think you know we need tosee more from them.
Carrier did do he made a greatmove where he went behind the

(54:27):
net and I've seen him do that alot.
He used to do that quite a bitwith Vegas.
He would get behind the net,then come around the side and
then you know either shoot it orpass it to somebody who's in
the crease and deflect it in.
So he needs to get thatconfidence back and, of course,
he came back from an injury thatkept him out for an extended
period, so we have to give him alittle bit of time to kind of

(54:48):
find his way.
But the other member of thisline, to me as well, could
deliver some more, and that'sJordan Stahl.
Stahl has just one assist sofar in the playoffs.
He's been strong in the faceoffdot on some nights, on other
nights not so good.
I'm looking for more fromJordan.

(55:08):
Erin thoughts on Jordan.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
I think that Jordan Stahl's contribution to the
playoffs in particular is somuch focused on defense that we
you know, we kind of when welook at offensive stats, we're
not always going to see themleaping to the to the front.
But I would say that, yeah, inin the past, jordan Stahl has
probably managed to impactoffense a little bit more, and

(55:34):
it depends on I think that waskind of the point of having Seth
Jarvis on that line.
It just, for whatever reason,wasn't really working well, at
least in this series.
So I don't think that you cannecessarily do that in the
playoffs, where you just importa scorer down to Stahl's line
and it works, because thenyou're losing something from the
defensive side sometimes.

(55:54):
So I'm happy with theconfiguration of the line.
I think that they should startchipping in.
Martinuk has certainly beenchipping in.
So there's that.
I think that sometimes forStahl too, though, it's just
getting that floodgate open.
And, yes, his assist so far inthe playoffs was on Spech's

(56:16):
empty netter, and that's fine.
Playoffs was on Spets's emptynetter, and that's fine.
But maybe just a couple ofthose shifts where he overlaps
with one of those lines couldget him going, because we've
seen that before too, and once Ithink, stahl.
For me it seems like all of hisscoring always seems to happen
in bunches and in a really shortsample size.
You're not going to necessarilysee that as much, but I would

(56:37):
love to see it.
If that empty net assist kindof got him, you know, maybe
thinking I should be doing alittle bit more here, then that
would be great for the team,because his line we know they
grind the opposition into dust,they hold on to the puck.
They have the best puckpossession stats usually on the
team.
I haven't looked, but you know,generally speaking they're

(56:59):
right up there at the top ornear the top with puck
possession.
So we want them to be able toproduce at least a little bit,
just because of all the zonetime they're getting.
So hopefully that'll happen.

Speaker 1 (57:11):
Yeah, I agree and I think, uh, you know, uh, we saw
him at at some point this seasonwhere he was smoking hot.
He had four or five goals in ashort period of time.
Yeah, again, it's a long seasonfor Jordan, we know, and of
course he's aging as well and Ithink it's going to be critical

(57:31):
to find ways to, you know, givehim some off periods as well in
terms of, you know, on ice timeand just some of the tougher
situations.
And I like that when they hadMark Jankowski in because he
could do some of that PK work aswell.
And I think that's somethingthat, with Burns and with Stull,

(57:52):
they're going to have to managevery closely.
And we need Jordan Stull, ofcourse, to be on top of his game
, because he's critical againstthese top lines.
For sure.
If, by some measure, the Canesend up playing a team like
Toronto, as an example, a guylike Stowe up against Matthews
and Werner and the rest of themwould be huge.
I thought we'd have a littlefun.

(58:15):
We looked at the X-Factorsheading into the series and I
thought let's see how we'redoing.
Um, now, katie, you talkedabout special teams and the head
coach battle.
Um, how do you think we'redoing with that?

Speaker 3 (58:30):
well, we already touched on special teams, so
obviously we're great it'sconsidering that we're first of
the current teams left in thepostseason in both power play
and penalty kills.
So well done, boys.

Speaker 1 (58:42):
That was definitely fantastic.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
The coaching has just been on another level, like
we've always known that.
Rod is a really good coach, butit seems like this playoffs he
and his staff have hit anotherlevel in the decisions that
they're making the matchups.
They're creating the tweaks tothe lineup that they've making
the matchups.
They're creating the tweaks tothe lineup that they've had to
make, both as far as who'splaying as well as how the lines

(59:07):
and pairings are configured,you know, moving Svetch up to
the top line and then movingJarvis up to the top line and
getting Roslevic between Halland Stankoven and where they're
playing Carrier.
And, of course, my favorite onethat I mentioned earlier is the
time that Walker has gotten toplay with Slavin.
I just have been over the moonwith that duo and how that has

(59:29):
worked out and produced for theCanes.
It just seems like they havethat.
Brendamore and his staff havetheir hand on the pulse of the
canes and of the game and ofwhat they need to do in order to
maximize the opportunity forsuccess, and I just want them to
keep, keep riding this as faras they can, because it has been

(59:54):
wonderful with how it's workedout so far.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
Yeah, fantastic, fantastic job, job by Rod, for
sure.
Now, erin, you talked aboutdiscipline and physicality.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
I think that they're doing extremely well in both of
those areas too.
The penalty kill has beenextremely good, but they have
not had to work as much as theydid in the regular season.
There have been some lengthycalls.
We had some four-minute minorsfor high sticking and that kind
of thing, but a lot of playersthat we would normally see with

(01:00:34):
that little revolving door goingin and out of the penalty box
are keeping their discipline,keeping focused, not committing
the stick infractions, notcommitting the retaliatory
penalties, which is, of course,the one thing you don't want to
do.
You know goading, being goadedinto, you know taking a swipe at
someone or whatever the casemight be.
And I mean they're playing theCapitals.

(01:00:55):
I mean you don't necessarilyexpect them to take a lot of
retaliatory penalties againstthe Devils, but the Capitals are
one of those teams that cankind of play that game where
they get you off your game andget you angry and make you do
these things, and so that's.
They've been tremendouslymature.
And then this goes all the waydown to, you know, some of the
longest, youngest players in thelineup.
The physicality has also beenextremely good.

(01:01:18):
You know, I think that lastnight's game was the first of
the four games that we've playedagainst the Capitals where the
Capitals actually did, in fact,out-hit the Canes by two hits,
by two hits, so matching theCapitals hit for hit all the way
through and even exceeding themin most of these games.

(01:01:39):
You know, nobody would haveexpected that, because everyone
has this idea that the Canes arejust soft, and what we're
finding out is that they're notsoft, they're strategic.
They didn't do this in theregular season because you
shouldn't have to do this inorder to win.
In the regular season, youshouldn't have to target guys
and go after guys and be hitting, throwing hits randomly, and

(01:02:00):
they're still not doing that.
They're just hitting verystrategically when they need to
get the puck back, you know, andthat's it.
They're not.
Nobody's got a target on theirback in this series, at least
not on the capital side, andthey don't have to.
That's not.
It doesn't have to be this verypersonal, dirty kind of game.
It can be, you can be physical,you can elevate the hits.

(01:02:22):
You can elevate and not justthe hits too, because we look at
that as the number that we useas our proxy for how physical a
series is.
But how many times is it?
Just a question of finishing agood check, making sure that
you're taking that extra effortto get the puck cleared, or that
extra effort to get the puckcleared, or that extra effort to
get the puck off the wall.
That's physicality too, and Ithink that the Canes are

(01:02:45):
underrated in those areasbecause we don't have stats for
measuring that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
Well, you look at the hits numbers, they are fifth
right now in the playoffs with319.
So they're definitely they'redoing exactly what you said,
erin, and a couple of thingsthat come to mind.
Look, brent Burns the othernight he just pummeled Alex
Ovechkin.
How many times did we see him?
He just crushed him right.
And you're just sitting therecheering, you're going.

(01:03:10):
This is great Because, you know, again, ovechkin has been, you
know, a thorn in the side of theCanes and he tried to get, you
know, very physical last nightas well.
And the other guy that, ofcourse, has been trying to take
the Canes off their game is TomWilson, and the Canes have just
sat there and looked at him andsmiled and said you know, do
whatever you want to do.

(01:03:30):
We've got to move on and winthis game.
So I agree with you.
I think they've definitely beendisciplined.
No-transcript.

Speaker 3 (01:04:12):
So that's, all good stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
So the odds right now to win the Eastern Conference
are very strongly in favor ofthe Canes, as you would imagine.
As I mentioned at the start ofthe podcast, the Canes have not
lost when they've been up 3-1.
In fact, eight times they'vewon the series when they've been
up 3-1 in the series andthey're going to go for a ninth.

(01:04:37):
And it's generally acceptedthat the Canes will win this
series and it's also accepted bythe oddsmakers right now that
the Canes will actually win theEastern Conference.
So a lot of folks are still,you know, promoting the Canes
and we've even seen them in anumber of different odds makers

(01:05:00):
saying they're going to win theStanley Cup.
So, you know, kind of aninteresting situation when we
look at the start of the yearand we had some fun with that
when some folks were saying, hey, if they make the playoffs,
that's a good year for the Canes.
And I want to give a shout outto Eric Tulsky, as I usually do
in these situations, becausethis Canes team reflects him and

(01:05:21):
his staff and the great workthey've done this year.
He had picked these folks whenthe Rantanen deal went down.
You know he wanted LoganStankoven, he wanted to pick up
Taylor Hall and now he signsHall to a three-year deal.
He wanted to keep Freddie andhe signs Freddie on a
team-friendly deal for next year.
I mean, you just go on and onwith these things and of course,

(01:05:44):
the ultimate is Jacob Slavinand the deal that he was able to
put together with Jacob.
So lots of excitement as we goforward.
Okay, they've got to win thenext game, or one of the next
three games, to win the series.
What are we looking for?
What do we expect?
How do we feel about thesituation now where it's going

(01:06:05):
to go?
Why don't you kick it off, erin?

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
Well, I think that Spencer Carvery is a really good
coach, and I've never wanted tounderrate him at all in this
series.
I think he has done a very goodjob with his players.
I think he continues to done avery good job with his players.
I think he continues to do avery good job with his players.
They're going to be back onhome ice.
They're going to be moremotivated to try to get this win

(01:06:29):
.
It's not going to be theeasiest game in the world
Thursday, yeah, but barringanything really unforeseen
though, I think that this gameis the Canes game to take.
I do think that they're going tohave that same mindset that
they did when they were playinggame five against New Jersey.

(01:06:50):
Now, granted that game, theywere already at home, and the
motivation was that they didn'twant to go back to New Jersey.
But the problem, I think a lotof teams sometimes get into that
mindset of oh well, you know,it doesn't matter, if we lose
this one, we'll go finish it athome.
You never want to do that whenyou're at game five.
You never want to do that, andthe Canes, specifically, are not

(01:07:13):
going to want to do that.
They're going to be looking toclose this out, because the
games that they want to win downthe road in Raleigh are more
important than bringing thisseries back to Raleigh.
So they're ready to close itout.
They're ready.
They certainly the way theywere talking in the interviews I

(01:07:33):
know you touched on that, tomalready they're very focused on
the task at hand.
So if they go in there withthat mindset, if they can get a
good start which is verycritical, I think, to how these
games have gone, then they maybe able to undo whatever work
that Spencer Carberry has done.
Because my honest opinion is Idon't think that the Capitals

(01:07:57):
have been able to match theCanes' conditioning.
There's been a lot ofcommentary about how, you know,
various players have looked likethey're completely gassed,
completely out of breath on thebench and by the end of the
first period, not by the end ofthe third, if the Canes can
continue to keep that level ofintensity going, then the game

(01:08:17):
is theirs to take.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:21):
And again, do you think, are you expecting any
changes going into this nextgame or do you think it's lineup
as we've seen it?

Speaker 2 (01:08:30):
I personally think they're going to stick with the
same lineup.
I think it's hard to change awinning lineup and you don't
have a losing lineup.
But even beyond that, we haveseen Rod tweak a winning lineup
before, and certainly barringinjury.
We always have to say thatbecause we don't know for sure
the status of every player.
It could be that somebody mighthave to sit out, but if no one

(01:08:51):
is injured, I think they will atleast go into Game 5 with the
same lineup.
Because the thing with theconcerns about Jankowski versus
Roslevic and I've heard thoseconcerns yeah, roslevic has in
these last two games at homegame three he played just about
a minute and change less thanKotkaniemi.

(01:09:13):
Yeah, game four, he played, Ithink, four seconds more.
Yeah, they're playing equaldeployment, even though the
lines are numbered.
However, they're numbered.
So Rod has that opportunity.
If for some reason, roslevicbecomes a defensive liability in

(01:09:34):
game five, he can easily swapthose two centers.
Again, he can easily moveRoslevic to someone's wing if he
wants to.
There are so many opportunitiesto reconfigure the lineup
without having to bringJankowski in.
And I think you want to saveJankowski and keep him ready to
go for whatever the next seriesis, because that's when it could

(01:09:55):
get very critical, depending onwhich of the Florida Panthers
or the Toronto Maple Leafsemerges victorious, because
that's going to be a bigquestion.
So for me, I think they staythe same.
What do you think, katie?

Speaker 3 (01:10:09):
Yeah, I don't see any reason to change.
Don't mess with a good thing.
And, like I said earlier, Ithink Rod will want to see how
Rostovic responds in a situationwith this new line and in the
other team's barn where theyprobably are going to be
targeted against the otherteam's top line on certain

(01:10:31):
occasions at the face-off dot,and how Rod can get the line
changes on the fly to counteractthose matchups.
But I think this is a goodopportunity for Rod to see what
he's got with this line on theroad and potentials for it down
the road.
But other than that, unlessagain unless someone's injured

(01:10:53):
the D is going to stay the same,the other lines are going to
stay the same, freddie's goingto stay in net.
It's great.
I mean we all want to get togame five.
That's just how excited I am,because we want the Canes to
close this out.
We're excited for them.
They played so well.
But I think we're all willingto be patient to give them this

(01:11:16):
extra day of rest, because it'sgood all around, from
Freddiereddie on up to the, tothe guys who are that we know
are nursing things, likechatfield and martinook we know
we're a little banged up toother guys who, I'm sure are
banged up.
We just don't know about uh,their, their, uh, their bumps
and bruises.
But so this extra day will begood for them a couple more

(01:11:39):
nights in their own bed beforethey head back up to Washington.
It'll be great.
And like you said, aaron, Ithink if the Canes can get
through definitely the first 10minutes, if not the first period
, even, or with the lead, Ithink they are going to just
wear the Capitals down and theyare going to be able to take

(01:12:00):
this game, because the Capitalsjust cannot keep up with the
speed and the stamina that theCanes have developed throughout
the entire season and it's justpart of who they are, just
follows in Rod Brindamore'sfootsteps.
And so the biggest danger is ifthey play from behind.

(01:12:21):
The Canes are not a good teamplaying from behind, so if they
can keep it even or get the leadand build on that and make the
Caps chase them, yeah, they'llwrap it up in five.
But if they let the Capsdictate things from the start
and get that energy and breakthrough early, then it's going

(01:12:43):
to be more of an uphill battleand I mean they can do it.
We saw game five with newjersey that they you know they.
They spotted new jersey a bit ofa lead there and and managed to
make it happen, but I I'drather they not do that again.

Speaker 2 (01:12:58):
Let's not do that again.

Speaker 3 (01:13:00):
If they just went ahead and, you know, just took
it to the caps from puck dropand asserted their dominance
once again.
That's what I think we wouldall like to see.

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
Yeah, and to quote Mr Brandon Moore, they need to
start on time.
They need to come out and,right from the get-go, take the
crowd out of the game and takecontrol.
And you know Freddie's going tobe incredible.
He's going to be that, you knowstrong, you know steady guy

(01:13:33):
back in the net that we know wecan count on and that makes a
big difference Every time he'sout there.
Now you have a chance to win.
So, yeah, it's going to beexciting.
You know there's someinteresting things going on.
Of course, the Jankowskidiscussion is a raging one, and
should be.
He played very, very well whenhe was in there.
Now Rosie, as RBA would callhim, he's getting a lot of

(01:13:56):
positive response as well.
They like what he's doing.
He's making a difference.
He was huge in that goal lastnight by Taylor Hall.
So that's a great situation tobe in.
And another one which we'rehaving some fun with is that
Alexander Nikeshin was inwarm-up last night and that
caught a lot of folks off guard.
We know that Chatfield ishurting right now.

(01:14:18):
In fact he struggled a bit lastnight.
So we'll have to see how thatplays out.
But Rod did say that he fullyexpects that we're going to see
Mr Nikishin at some point in theplayoffs.
So that, I think, was a verystrong positive statement for
those of us who have beenwaiting to see Alexander.
For those of us who have beenwaiting to see Alexander and I

(01:14:43):
would not in any way, shape orform be concerned if he jumps
into the lineup as well based onthe fact he's been around for a
while now.
So I think he's starting tofeel a little bit more
comfortable as well, and in fact, I saw him in a conversation
with Andrei Sveshnikov andKane's owner, tom Dundon, the
other day and he had a big smileon his face.
So I think that's a good sign.

(01:15:04):
It's going to be fun to watchthis as the Canes continue on
their run.
For those of you who've beenwatching or listening, obviously
the three of us are delightedyou've been here and spending
time with us.
If you like this episode,please press the like button.
If you have comments for Aaron,katie or myself or just some
things to say about the Canes,we'd love to hear from you for

(01:15:26):
sure in the comments sectiondown below, and if you want to
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As always, we thank you so muchfor spending time with us and

(01:15:49):
look forward to getting togetherwith you real soon, right here
on StarCraft.