Cozy Cast Ep. 6 - In Between Hockey!
Welcome to the From Center Ice Cozy Cast. This is where we sit down every Monday and chat about what happened in the hockey world over the weekend.
This weekend, we had the matchup for the 2022 Stanley Cup Final officially decided. Most of this episode is about the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
There are also some AHL, NHL play contract, and Blackhawks tidbits! This is a full on exhausted Cozy Cast, I apologize in advance. But, that's what it's here for!
Happy Monday!
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Full Podcast Transcript:
00:10
Welcome to From Center Ice the podcast. My name is Courtney.
00:13
And of course today is Monday. So this is the From Center Ice Cozy Cast, where I'm here to recap what's gone on in the hockey world over the weekend.
00:25
And once again, this Cozy Cast is brought to you, but not sponsored by at all, Dunkin coffee. And today, I mixed it up and went back to just a cold brew instead of the sunrise Blend Coffee. Let me take a sip here.
00:43
But that's because I got maybe an hour of sleep last night and I needed that extra kick in my coffee today. I don't know why I got so little sleep last night just, you know, couldn't fall asleep. And then woke up way before my alarms went off this morning at around 6:45am. And if you know me, you know that is very early for no reason. I typically, on an average day, will get up around 10 o'clock. And not this morning. 6:45am. I looked at my watch, saw what time it was, was slightly mortified because I realized I hadn't fallen asleep to too long before that. Unfortunately. I wanted to but, just you know, that's how it goes some nights I guess. You just can't fall asleep. Last night was one of those. And I guess my body didn't want a whole lot of sleep at all last night.
01:48
But how was your weekend? Did you get some sleep? I hope you did.
01:54
I don't feel like I got a whole lot of sleep over the entire weekend, actually. I got maybe . . . let's see, Saturday into Sunday. So I went to a bonfire Saturday night, and I got home around 3:30 in the morning and woke up just before noon. So, whatever that math equals out to, I have not had nearly enough coffee yet to figure out that math. And Friday night, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep either. So we are just rocking it on this Monday morning here on the Cozy Cast.
02:33
So that's why I went with cold brew this morning. And it's a struggle here. Pretty tired. But that's what this Cozy Cast is for. It's just a very laid back hour-long podcast talking about hockey and the hockey world.
02:50
And, unfortunately, we are at that time of the year where there isn't much hockey on right now because the Conference Finals in the NHL have wrapped up. We have the matchup set for the Stanley Cup Final, but that hasn't started yet. That starts on Wednesday. So we're in this in between phase right now where there's no NHL hockey. There's some American League hockey on and there's some Junior hockey on, but no NHL hockey. So that's always an interesting time of the year.
03:28
And that's what kind of sucks about the playoffs, in a way. As the further you go along, and the more intense and exciting it gets, the less hockey you have. So that's the trade off, I suppose. Haven't quite figured out how this offseason is going to go yet. Maybe we'll have to use these Mondays for a different type of podcast. It will still be hockey related, because that's what this channel is. But I haven't quite figured it out yet. But we'll get there.
04:07
Yeah, so again, how was your weekend? What did you do? Did you watch Game Six between Tampa Bay and New York?
04:18
I didn't. Of course, I wasn't home on Saturday. So I didn't watch that. But I got the updates, unfortunately.
04:26
So I guess we should just jump in to talking about the hockey now.
04:31
And, of course the only series that hadn't wrapped up yet since we had a good ole sweep out here in the West is the Eastern Conference Final between the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
04:45
And for the third year in a row, the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to the Stanley Cup Final.
04:52
They beat New York in six games after the Rangers came out and won the first two games of the series there at Madison Square Garden. This series shifted back to Tampa, and the Lightning won both of those games, came back to Madison Square Garden for game five won that game, and then went back to Tampa for Game Six, because that's how that goes. And they closed it out there. It was a close game. But they got the win. And apparently my computer thinks I'm talking to Siri and is just typing out everything I'm saying. So I'm gonna stop that from happening real quick.
05:36
I don't know why Siri thought I was talking to her. But I most certainly wasn't. I was talking to you guys.
05:51
But, Game Six, Tampa only won by a score of 2-1. So it was very close. And I did watch the highlights since I didn't catch the full game since I wasn't home. And Tampa definitely looked like the better team in that game. They came out looking like they wanted to close it out, at least what I saw from the highlights and the Rangers were heavily, heavily relying on Igor Shesterkin to come up with the saves. And he came up with a lot of A-plus saves. And then, I don't know if it was the first goal by Stamkos, I think it was, it was just a shot that cannot go into the net. So that's kind of how it goes in hockey. Sometimes your goaltender comes up with all of these fantastic stops, and then just a gross goal from super far out goes in.
06:51
I mean, you could ask Mike Smith about that up in Edmonton. He definitely saw a lot of that throughout the playoffs this season, coming up with some fantastic stops and then just the worst goals going in on him. But that's the story when it comes to Mike Smith, really. We will never forget the short handed goal from Rasmus Andersson from his own end of the ice. Gosh, Mike Smith gave us so many good moments in the postseason this year. If it weren't for him playing for Edmonton, it would almost be sad that he was out of the playoffs because there were just so many good moments. Between that goal from the other end of the ice, and then the tantrum after the goal went in after him trying to throw the puck up the glass and it hitting the official. So many good moments.
07:54
But that was out West. We're out East here.
07:57
And I have the scoring leaders for the Rangers for you to wrap up their postseason here.
08:07
And first we have Mika Zibanejad, of course. In 20 games throughout the post season, he had 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points. That's some good numbers there from Mika. And in the Eastern Conference Final, he had 3 goals and 2 assists. So, he was trying to get them on the board. It didn't go very well for them most of the time, but Mika was putting in a solid effort.
08:38
Up next we have Adam Fox. He had 5 goals and 18 assists for 23 points throughout the postseason. And in the Eastern Conference Final, he had 5 assists.
08:51
Third, we have Chris Kreider. And he scored 10 goals and 6 assists for 16 points throughout the postseason. Against Tampa, he had 2 goals and 3 assists. So, not too bad there either.
09:05
Up next, Artemi Panarin. And through 20 games in the postseason, he scored 6 goals and added 10 assists for 16 points. And in the Eastern Conference Final, had 2 goals and 3 assists.
09:20
So, the top four guys there all had 5 points for the team in the third round.
09:27
Up next is Andrew Copp. Through 20 games in the postseason, he scored 6 goals and added 8 assists for 14 points, but only had 2 assists there in the third round. And it seemed like once his offensive production dried up, that's when things started going south for the Rangers against Tampa. He was a big contributor in those first two rounds there. Of course, coming up with 12 points in the first two rounds. And he was setting up goals all over the place it seemed like, and then only getting 2 assists there in the third round. It kind of told the tale for the Rangers there. They didn't have too much of a problem scoring goals in the first few rounds, and then only had I think it combined 3 goals and the last three games of the series. Which, they were facing Andrei Vasilevskiy in net, so it's not a huge surprise. But they also weren't doing themselves any favors there on the offensive front.
10:43
It was just interesting to see. It's almost a tale of two seasons for the Rangers there, but that seems to be how it was for the Panthers, too. I would say also Toronto, but they at least put up a fight against Tampa. The Rangers put up more of a fight than the Florida Panthers did, that's for damn sure. At least took them to six, where Tampa swept Florida.
11:12
So, I don't know. It just sucks that some of the offense there dried up, but it also comes down to injuries. And that's what you get in the playoffs. You have to play through it. Tampa Bay didn't have Brayden Point, one of their top centers. So you can't use the excuse of injuries there.
11:32
But, moving on with the point leaders here for the Rangers.
11:36
Up next, we have Frank Vatrano. And in 20 games during the postseason, he scored 5 goals and added 8 assists for 13 points. He had 2 goals and 3 assists in the third round, so not too bad there from Vatrano. He was also a very big contributor. Obviously didn't get 24 points, like say Mika Zibanejad, but he was definitely chipping in with some depth offense there.
12:03
Up next, Filip Chytil, the Center for that kid line. And through 20 games, he scored 7 goals and 2 assists for 9 points. He had 2 goals and 1 assist in the third round. But, both of those goals came in the same game. But he did also suffer an injury as well. I think it was in game four. He missed half of the game, was able to come back for game five, but likely wasn't 100%. But not many of these guys are 100%. I would guess maybe all of them aren't 100% at the end of the regular season and then going through three rounds of the playoffs. It's just something that you either play through, or you end up missing time like a Brayden Point.
12:55
But up next, Alexis Lafrenière. Also on that kid line. You have 20 games played for Lafrieniere. 2 goals 7 assists for 9 points, but he only had 2 assists against Tampa. So his offense dried up there as well.
13:15
Next we have Ryan Strome. And he played 19 games suffering an injury in that third game. He missed game four, but came back for game five and Game Six. He scored 2 goals and 7 assists for 9 points throughout the postseason, but had 0 points in the third round against Tampa. And Kaapo Kakko was scratched in game six, I read, in favor of putting Ryan Strome back into the lineup. So, I know Rangers fans on Twitter had a lot to say about that. None, None of them were overly positive about that. But it is what it is now I suppose.
14:01
And last, but not least, K'Andre Miller. Through 20 games, he put up 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points. He scored 1 goal and 1 assist in the third round.
14:14
And that brings us to the man in the net. The guy who kept them in the playoffs as long as he possibly could, tried to get them through that game six there. Trying to will them to win that game when it just was not going their way offensively.
14:35
I'm going to take a sip of my coffee here before I talk about that.
14:42
But Igor Shesterkin, the MVP of the Rangers season. Could possibly win the Vezina this year. Probably should when the Vezina this year. Through 20 games, he had a record of 10-9. Of course, he was pulled in one of those games, because the Pittsburgh series was very unkind to him, but after that he really turned it on. Throughout the playoffs, he had a .929 save percentage. That was the highest save percentage of the goaltenders left in the Conference Final. He had a 2.59 goals against average, and he made 669 saves in the postseason. That was the most of all the goaltenders. The second most was Mike Smith making 511 saves. So, Shesterkin made 158 more saves than the second guy. That's just ridiculous.
15:55
And that goes to show you just how much the Rangers really relied on Shesterkin back there, and he did the best that he could. You definitely cannot put this loss in game six on Shesterkin. Maybe I will go back and rewatch the full game now I have a couple of days here without NHL hockey on. But, from what I saw in the highlights, I watched the condensed Game on nhl.com. And if you aren't aware, if you miss a game, or if you just want to go back and watch some highlights, you can go to nhl.com, go to the recap for whatever game. And they have a three minute highlight reel, I want to say. But then they have the condensed game which is a bit longer, shows you a few more plays and it's roughly nine minutes per game, on average.
17:00
Yeah, so I watched that and from what I saw, he really tried his best to keep them in that game. It's just unfortunate. I wanted to watch him continue to play because, of course, as a goaltender fan, seeing a guy come out and have that type of performance. You want to see him continue playing, see how far he can go. But he wasn't getting any run support from his team. Like I said, I think they had three combined goals in the last three games there. That's not going to do it unless Shesterkin gets 1-0 shutouts every night. And they were facing the Tampa Bay Lightning who can score goals. So unfortunately, he is done.
17:56
And so he had a .929 save percentage throughout the postseason. But in the Eastern Conference Final, Igor Shesterkin had a .933 save percentage, and he made 195 of those 669 saves in the third round. So again, he tried.
18:23
And the guy he was up against, Andrei Vasilevskiy, down there at the other end of the ice, he had a .919 save percentage in the third round and made 159 saves. So, Tampa definitely didn't rely on him as much there as the Rangers relied on Shesterkin. But if you came into that series and told anybody that was going to be the outcome, they would have probably said, "Well, duh that's obviously going to be the case!"
19:02
So yeah, we had . . . we definitely had the goaltender duel that we were promised for the Eastern Conference Final between two of the best goaltenders in the NHL from this season. Andrei Vasilevskiy is probably the best goaltender in the world. Shesterkin is not far behind him, if he can keep up this level of play. And nothing suggests that he won't, but he's still a young goaltender, and we will see where his career goes from here.
19:35
But also in the Eastern Conference Final out there, I have the point leaders from the Tampa Bay Lightning, but only their points from this third round here.
19:50
And first up, we have Ondrej Palat. 4 goals, 4 assists in the third round, leading the way offensively for Tampa.
19:59
Next up, we have Nikita Kucherov. 3 goals, 5 assists for 8 points.
20:04
So, the big guys definitely stepping up.
20:09
And you have the captain up next, Steven Stamkos. 5 goals 2 assists. He had both goals in game six for Tampa to lead them to the win.
20:22
Next up Victor Hedman, 4 assists, no goals. And he didn't stand out as much to me as maybe he did in the first round against Toronto. Not many players stuck out to me against the Florida Panthers, because that series only lasted four games and they just kind of steamrolled the Panthers who were pretty lifeless. But if you happen to be watching this and are a Tampa Bay Lightning fan, let me know what you thought of Hedman's performance so far. Obviously one of the best defenseman in the league, and he's always steady as he goes back there on the blue line for Tampa, but I expected him to maybe be a little more noticeable, chip in a bit more offensively. 4 assists isn't anything to laugh at. That's still pretty good, and that's all they needed, but I expected him to be a bit more noticeable back there.
21:25
Next up, you have Mikhail Sergachev. 1 Goal, 2 assists.
21:30
And then Anthony Cirelli, 3 assists, but he plays definitely more of the shutdown role there for Tampa. And [Cirelli] is definitely becoming one of the best two-way centers in the NHL.
21:47
We don't know if Patrice Bergeron is going to play again next season or not yet, but I saw on Twitter that . . . or maybe it was during one of the broadcasts. I don't know guys, I am so tired this morning. I'm sorry if this episode of The Cozy Cast is kind of going off of the rails here, my brain will not follow a straight line.
22:13
But it was either on Twitter or on one of the broadcasts where they were talking about how Jon Cooper, obviously the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, said that Anthony Cirelli will most likely be a Selke Trophy winner one of these seasons, which they should probably just rename the Patrice Bergeron trophy honestly.
22:36
But if you are not aware, the Selke Trophy is for the best defensive forward in the league and typically goes to a center. They do typically handle more of the defensive responsibilities for the forward group. Coming back to Chicago here, Jonathan Toews has won, at least, one. I don't know if he has two. But he has at least one. And it's pretty criminal that Marian Hossa retired without ever winning a Selkie. But he was a winger, and they typically go to centers. Because this is the NHL, and there's just some things that are not written into law or into the rulebook but are just kind of unspoken rules.
23:34
And I don't know the last non-center that won the Selke. I'll have to look that up. But yeah, it's criminal that Marian Hossa never won one.
23:47
But all of that to say that Anthony Cirelli will probably end up with at least one in his career. When John Cooper was able to get that matchup of Anthony Cirelli up against that top line with Zibanejad and Kreider, they weren't able to score on him. So that's why, that's probably why, you saw in the first two games when the Rangers were at home, they were able to squeak out those two wins. Of course, they did come back to New York for game five. Was just a bad effort from the Rangers. That was a frustrating game to watch but, it is what it is.
24:34
Up next Jan Rutta, former Chicago Blackhawk, 3 assists in this series for him.
24:40
Next up is Corey Perry, only 2 assists in the Eastern Conference Final for Corey Perry. But when he's not scoring goals, he's parked in front of the goaltender wreaking all sorts of havoc and running into the goalie, and just creating chaos there in the crease. And I say running into the goalie, I don't mean running them over and dirty plays. Which I mean, throughout his career, he's not been known as the cleanest player. But I don't think I've seen anything that I would call dirty from Corey Perry this post season. I don't know that we really saw anything necessarily dirty when he was with Montreal last season either. This is his third straight trip to the Stanley Cup final as well. First with Dallas, then Montreal. And then he joined the team that beat him both times in the Tampa Bay Lightning.
25:55
But yeah, he's maybe been a dirty player throughout his career. But it seems, at least to me, that he's cleaned up that part of his game. And he's still obnoxious as all hell, don't get me wrong. And definitely likes to mix things up and maybe has some questionable plays here or there. But when you have a guy on the other side of the ice and Jacob Trouba, who has concussed a few guys in the playoffs during this post season, I'll take Corey Perry causing trouble in the crease over that.
26:34
But up next, also former Chicago Blackhawk, Brandon Hagel. 1 goal in the Eastern Conference Final. It was an empty netter in game five. And I saw on Twitter - I keep going back to Twitter, but that's where a lot of hockey conversation takes place - That Lightning fans weren't super thrilled with Brandon Hagel, maybe, in this post season so far. I don't know if it was the trade, seeing as they gave my Chicago Blackhawks two first round picks and Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh. I don't know if they're just mad because of what they gave up to get Hagel. Because, at least in the first round, I thought he was extremely noticeable. And on that line with Nick Paul, it seemed like whenever they were on the ice, that there was a real danger of the Leafs being scored on maybe more so than the other lines. I feel like the depth really carried them in that first round. Where, since then, maybe the top guys have really taken over. That's not to say they were bad in the first round by any means. Of course, they they beat Toronto. But it seemed to me, just from the eye test and not going back and looking at any stats or anything like that, that the depth guys on the lightning were more impactful there in that first round.
28:22
Again, going to the second round against the Florida Panthers, I don't remember any of it. It was very non-exciting . . . unexciting, non-influential on my opinion over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
28:41
It was a very forgettable series, which I think maybe I just blocked it out because I was so upset about that. I was hoping we would get another fantastic Battle of Florida like we had in last year's postseason. And then, man, the Panthers. I still don't understand. Maybe I'll go back and watch the condensed games of all four of those games as well. Because I just . . . what happened? What happened? I don't know if I have any Florida Panthers fans that are listening to this or are still tuned in to hockey after your Presidents Trophy winning team rolled over and died in the playoffs. But, man, what happened there? Ugh, just a mess.
29:31
But in this round against the Rangers, Hagel maybe wasn't as noticeable as well, but he was also playing injured after blocking some shots. And that came against the Panthers, I believe in that game four when they closed out the series. Yeah, so again, you can't blame injuries for anything, and he's still played well. Just maybe not at that level he was at in the first round against Toronto. But he was still out there mixing things up on the ice.
30:10
But Tampa fans didn't seem to be too happy with him and his performance. So again, if you are a Tampa fan listening to this, I know there are a few of you out there - some rather aggressive Tampa fans. It's as if you think I only dislike Tampa because they beat the Leafs. Which if you are new to From Center Ice, that would make sense, because I made videos for the Leafs games and obviously they played Tampa and lost.
30:43
But this isn't anything new. I got very sick of them last year when they were in the Central Division and played the Blackhawks all the time. It seemed like every other game the Hawks were playing either Tampa or the Florida Panthers, and I got rather sick of both teams. And I just I don't like to see repeat winners for the cup because I want to see new teams win it if it's not going to be my team.
31:16
I will take back-to-back Blackhawks cups or Leafs cups, but if it's not my teams, I want to see new teams win it. And I don't think that's a strange opinion for any fan. But yeah, liking, or . . . not liking, the opposite of liking. Disliking Tampa Bay isn't anything new and didn't just start in the first round this year when they beat the Leafs.
31:49
But what was I even saying? Oh, yes. Tampa fans, if you are watching this, let me know what you thought of Brandon Hagel since acquiring him from my Blackhawks. He was, after Crawford retired, my favorite player. I loved him as a Rockford IceHog. And I knew he was going to be an impactful player in the NHL. And then he came up in the shortened season and just took that roster spot and didn't let go of it. And once he was able to start scoring goals and scoring points, after being severely snake bitten to start his official rookie year, then the points just kept rolling. And that continued this season as well. And when the trade was made to Tampa, I was very upset about it. Maybe one of the more vocal . . . What word am I looking for here? Maybe, somebody who was the most vocally upset about the trade.
33:08
And a lot of opinions about Hegel were that he's just some third or fourth line grinder you play down in the lineup. But while maybe that's the role he's been put in on Tampa, because our lineup is absolutely stacked, he's produced points and goals everywhere he's been. Starting in Junior, he had some ridiculous seasons with the Red Deer Rebels. I don't have the numbers on hand right now, because I didn't plan on talking about Brandon Hagel in this episode.
33:47
But again, very tired. The brain is just going in all different directions right now.
33:53
But he's been a point producer at every stop along the way in his career. So it was rather frustrating to see people just talking about him as some guy who will play down low in the lineup and that's all he is. And we should be happy that we got two first round picks and two other prospects for him. Which, yeah, maybe we should. But when I made the video after the trade, I said I can understand it and I can also be upset about it. And both of those things can be true. And that's still true, because I will forever be mad that the Blackhawks traded Hagel. And we don't know who those draft picks are yet, because the first draft picks don't start this year. They start next year. So we still have to wait a little bit to see how those play out.
34:50
But yeah. All of that to say, coming back to this, oh my gosh guys, I am so sorry. This episode is a mess.
34:57
If you are a Tampa Bay Lightning fan, let me know what you have thought of Brandon Hagel's performance so far.
35:04
And then last, but not least, on the point leaders for the Tampa Bay Lightning in this Eastern Conference Final you have Pat Maroon with 1 goal, and that also came in game five. I want to say that was the opening goal of game five there.
35:21
So that was your Eastern Conference Final between the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
35:31
Tampa's toughest series seemed to be the first round there against Toronto. It went seven games.
35:42
There's a very loud truck outside. I don't know if my microphone picked that up or not.
35:48
Yeah, it went seven games, and really could have gone either way. Unfortunately, for me, being a Leafs fan it went the way of the Lightning. And then round two, Florida. That series just doesn't exist in my brain. It never happened. And then this series against the Rangers, it looked like maybe it would be a little bit more competitive at the beginning there when the Rangers took the first two games at home. But then once the series shifted back to Tampa, then the Lightning just took over and it was a semi-sweep, kind of. Because they lost the first two games, but then they won four straight. So, a delayed sweep, if you will.
36:38
So yeah. It's not surprising they're back in the Stanley Cup Final. Their roster, it did see some some changes in the offseason. They lost all of their third line, was it? Of Yanni Gourde, who's with the Seattle Kraken. Barclay Goodrow, who's with the Rangers now. And then there was a player who went to Calgary, and I am most definitely forgetting who it was. But it doesn't really matter. They lost that whole line. And people were wondering how Tampa would look doing so. But then they went out and picked up Nick Paul from the Senators and Brandon Hagel. And even though he only got one assist here, or one goal, I mean, sorry, in the Conference Final, he's been grinding it out down there on the third line, which everybody just assumed his role would be. And it is with the Lightning. Again, because of the stacked lineup.
37:47
So, Tampa did perfectly fine losing that third line and losing Brayden Point in the first round. No big deal, apparently. And I guess he's getting closer and closer to returning. So we'll see if we see him in the Stanley Cup final.
38:09
There's some injuries on the Colorado side as well. We will see if those guys come back.
38:17
Ondrew . . . On Drew? Jeez. Andrew Cogliano had surgery on his hand after blocking a shot in game four. And Nazem Kadri also had surgery on his hand, which is what got injured when Evander Kane cross-checked him into the boards. And apparently Kadri might play in the Stanley Cup final. I don't know how smart this is. But these guys want to win the Cup. And this is what they do. We can think it's good. We can think it's bad. But whatever we think doesn't matter because we don't make the lineup decisions. We don't decide for these guys whether they can play or not. So, I guess we will see if we get Brayden Point on the Tampa side. And if we get Cogliano and Nazem Kadri on the Avalanche side.
39:16
Of course if both teams were perfectly healthy, then it would be probably an outstanding Stanley Cup Final. And it might still be, because both of these teams are playing at very high levels.
39:34
You have the Colorado Avalanche who can't stop scoring goals. And then you have the Tampa Bay Lightning who . . . they're the two time reigning Stanley Cup Champs, what more can you really say there? And they have the best goaltender in the world.
39:52
So you have maybe the best offensive team up against the best goaltender, and that will be interesting.
40:03
I do have the stats for the Avalanche from the third round against the Edmonton Oilers. Of course, they did face Mike Smith and the Edmonton defense. But Mike Smith also had long stretches of that series where he was deciding to be A-plus Mike Smith instead of . . Mike Smith we all know and love where he gives up goals from the other end of the ice. So I will go over these point leaders real quick to get us ready for the Stanley Cup final. Up first we have kale Makara, leading the way from the blue line with two goals and seven assists in the third round. Second, we have Mikko Rantanen four goals and two assists three of those goals, or no, I'm sorry, four of those goals coming on a goaltender that being Mike Smith, he did have a goal earlier in the postseason, but that was an empty netter. All it took was him facing Mike Smith to be able to score on a goalie but four goals two assists for Rottman great series for him. Up next Artturi Lehkonen two goals four assists. Of course, one of those two goals was the over time winner to send the Colorado Avalanche to the Stanley Cup final. The second year in a row he has scored the goal to send his team to the Stanley Cup final last year, Montreal up against this same at Tampa Bay Lightning. Fourth,
41:43
So I will go over these point leaders real quick to get us ready for the Stanley Cup Final.
41:43
Up first, we have Cale Makar leading the way from the blue line with 2 goals and 7 assists in the third round.
41:43
Second, we have Mikko Rantanen, 4 goals and 2 assists. Three of those goals, or no, I'm sorry, four of those goals coming on a goaltender - that being Mike Smith. He did have a goal earlier in the postseason, but that was an empty-netter. All it took was him facing Mike Smith to be able to score on a goalie. But 4 goals 2 assists for Rantanen. Great series for him.
41:43
Up next, Artturi Lehkonen. 2 goals, 4 assists. Of course, one of those two goals was the overtime winner to send the Colorado Avalanche to the Stanley Cup Final. The second year in a row he has scored the goal to send his team to the Stanley Cup Final. Last year, Montreal up against this same at Tampa Bay Lightning.
41:43
Fourth, we have the captain, Gabriel Landeskog. 2 goals, 4 assists.
41:43
Up next, Nathan MacKinnon. 3 goals, 2 assists.
42:00
Then we have Devon Toews. 1 Goal, 4 assists. Getting 5 points there on the blue line.
42:06
Next up is Nazem Kadri. 1 goal, 3 assists. Of course, he missed basically all of game three. He was injured about a minute into the game. And then he missed all of game four. So, those 5 are . . . I'm sorry, those 4 points coming in the first two games.
42:26
Up next, J.T. Compher. 3 goals.
42:30
Ninth, we have Valeri Nichushkin with 2 goals.
42:34
And last, but not least, the other injured guy, Andrew Cogliano. 1 goal and 1 assist.
42:42
And in net for them, I didn't include Darcy Kuemper's stats here for the Eastern Conference Final because he played about half of the game before leaving with an upper body injury. So, his stats weren't very flattering.
42:57
But we have Pavel Francouz. A .908 save percentage. He made 99 saves in those three and a half games there, and one of those included a shutout in game number two.
43:13
So we don't know yet if Darcy Kuemper will be back in net or if it will be Francouz. Kuemper was healthy enough to back up in game four. So, with these nine days off in between ending that round and starting the Cup Final, perhaps he is healthy enough to get back into that starters crease.
43:36
Of course, as soon as I stop recording this, there's probably going to be news that drops saying that Darcy Kuemper is just 100% perfectly healthy, ready to get back in net. But right now it is 9:35am Central Standard Time on Monday. So if I missed it, then I will update you in the preview video for the Cup Final.
44:02
But those are the stats for the Colorado Avalanche and the third round. And of course, now we have the matchup between that high flying Avalanche team and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
44:15
Colorado, so far in the playoffs, is 12-2. They have only lost two games. Both of those came in the second round against the St. Louis Blues. They swept the Nashville Predators in the first round. Of course, they did have to play their third string goaltender because Juuse Saros was injured coming into the playoffs. David Rittich was very bad in game one, so they ran with Connor Ingram, and the Avalanche were just too much for him to handle. So they swept that round, and then lost two games to the Blues, and then swept for the Edmonton Oilers.
44:58
Meanwhile, in the East. Tampa Bay is 12-5. They have lost five games. They swept the second round. So the two rounds that Colorado swept, Tampa lost . . . They lost three games in round one, two games in round three. But they swept that middle round, whereas Colorado could not.
45:22
When it comes to Team stats.
45:25
So goals for per game, Colorado is sitting at 4.64 goals per game, and Tampa is sitting at 3.06. So definitely a big difference there.
45:43
When it comes to goals against per game, Colorado is sitting at 2.86 goals against per game, and Tampa is at 2.41. So the difference there is a bit smaller. Of course, you would assume that Tampa Bay has that advantage having Andrei Vasilevskiy in net, and they do have the better number there. But the difference, like I said, is smaller than the goals for per game.
46:12
So, if Colorado can keep up that scoring pace that they are on, then they might be able to out score the goals that they allow. But, of course, it all comes down to who is in net for Colorado and if these skaters can solve Andrei Vasilevskiy.
46:36
I did read this morning that Colorado won both games against Tampa in the regular season this year. But the New York Rangers also won all of their games against Tampa in the regular season this year. So you can't really rely on that stat too much.
46:56
And, of course, we all know that Andrei Vasilevskiy just levels up as he goes throughout the playoffs and he blinks less and less as time goes on with his Clockwork Orange eyes that he has going on behind the mask there.
47:13
Goalies are crazy.
47:15
Anyway, special teams.
47:17
On the powerplay, Colorado is converting at a 31.1% pace. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is at 22.6%. So, significant advantage there on the powerplay for Colorado.
47:33
But on the other hand, on the penalty kill Colorado is at 75.7%. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is killing 82.5% of their penalties.
47:47
So, neither of those are especially surprising. Maybe a bit more surprising that Tampa Bay is not scoring more on the power play. But I don't necessarily think a 31.1% clip is sustainable on the power play for Colorado. But then again, they just can't stop scoring goals. So maybe it is. We will see.
48:17
It's going to be very, very interesting. This series between Colorado and Tampa. This Avalanche team is a lot different than the last two teams Tampa has seen in the Cup Final the last two years, the Montreal Canadiens and the Dallas Stars. Yes, both of those happened. It doesn't sound real saying that Dallas and Montreal were in the Cup Final against Tampa Bay, but they were. You can't take that away from them.
48:57
Last year, definitely it was all on the back of Carey Price. So it's not surprising that the offense dried up there for Montreal.
49:05
So we'll see what this cup final brings us. If Andrei Vasilevskiy just shuts it down and completely overrules any scoring prowess that the Colorado Avalanche have. Or if that offense is just way too potent and they come out flying.
49:30
We saw in this third round where Tampa had those nine days off before starting the series against the Rangers, and then they lost the first two games. Now Colorado has nine days off before the Cup Final. So we'll see what this rest does to them. They did sweep that first round. So, they had the rest there as well. They came out and they won Game one against St. Louis. I think it went back to St. Louis tied, so the Blues would have won game two. And Colorado won both games in St. Louis, because I don't believe they have lost on the road yet. But they do have home ice advantage here in the Cup Final. So that doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot. We'll see. It's just going to be very interesting.
50:21
But moving on from those two teams, which I've sat here and talked about for the majority of this episode.
50:30
There was an interesting tweet going to Blackhawks news from PuckPedia this weekend. And it talks about Duncan Keith and his future. So it says quote, "If Duncan Keith retired this summer, his $5.5 million cap hit would be removed for the Oilers, and they would get a $3.4 million recapture cap credit." So it would add cap space to what they already have. "Blackhawks would have a $7.5 million [I'm sorry] Blackhawks would have $7.5 million of recapture cap hit allocated as $5.5 million in 2022-23." So this upcoming season. "And $2 million in 2023-24."
51:32
So that means that if that were to happen, which I don't see happening, but if it did if Duncan Keith just straight up retired the summer, not LTIR retirement, which we have seen from pretty much every single player who has a long term contract that has quote unquote, retired recently. If he just straight up, actually filed those retirement papers and was officially done, then the Blackhawks would have $5.5 million dollars of dead cap space counting against them in this upcoming season. And then in the next season, they would have $2 million of dead cap space counting against them.
52:18
Now, that would suck. But if that were going to happen, this is the right time for that to happen since, of course, they are entering this rebuild. And we don't really know what the roster is going to look like. Of course you have all of the rumors about Alex DeBrincat being traded. I talked about that on Friday in the Happy Hour. And then if DeBrincat goes, do they trade Patrick Kane as well? Toews already seems like he's got one foot out the door. But both of those two, the two big guys, have one year left on their $10.5 million contracts.
53:05
Of course, we still have Seth Jones, his contract extension kicks in this year. So that $9.5 million contract officially starts this upcoming season. So if that were the case, and Duncan Keith did retire officially this summer, which again, I don't see happening, but if he did, then the Blackhawks would have $15 million dollars in cap space tied up in Seth Jones and Duncan Keith. And Duncan Keith no longer plays for them. Oh, geez, that's . . . that's just something unnecessary to think about.
53:49
But I also tweeted it was it last night, I think, that I don't even know when to begin talking about next season for the Blackhawks. Because this roster is going to look so different. And we have no idea what it is going to look like. Because of course you have the anticipation of the Alex DeBrincat trade. And apparently that could happen either at the draft or possibly at the trade deadline. Where, I don't know if I said this Friday, but if I have to anticipate this until the trade deadline, I'm going to lose my mind. But you have that. And then are Toews and Kane here to start the season? Dylan Strome is a restricted free agent. And there's lots of rumors of him not being qualified. So he would become an unrestricted free agent and could just go wherever he wants to. There's also Dominik Kubalik who is a restricted free agent, and they might not qualify him. So both of those guys could just walk for nothing much like Pius Suter did last offseason. Calvin de Haan's contract is up, he likely isn't going to be re-signing. We don't have either of our goaltenders, being Kevin Lankinen or Collin Delia signed. So we don't have any NHL goaltenders signed currently.
55:28
So yeah, I don't know when to start talking about next season for the Blackhawks because we have no idea what it's going to look like.
55:35
So until any moves start happening, it's just going to be playoffs and then we will start talking about the draft, I guess. We will go from there and it will just depend on what the team decides to do.
55:52
But the IceHogs made some news last week with some player signings. They re-signed Riley McKay, forward, and Cliff Watson, defenseman, to one year deals.
56:05
They also signed a goaltender, Mitchell Weeks to a two-year AHL contract. And he played for the Sudbury Wolves and was a teammate of Isaak Phillips, actually. He's a 20 year old goaltender. He's 6'3". I don't know if he sees time with the IceHogs this coming season, or if he's going to spend the majority of the year with the Indy Fuel in the ECHL. But either way, we have another goaltender in the system.
56:39
Now, with Sudbury this year, he played 61 games. He had a record of 23-29-7. He had a 3.95 goals against average and an .894 save percentage. And those numbers aren't very flattering for a goaltender. But I did ask Thomas Mercier, who was a guest on the podcast a few weeks back, and he also calls the games for the Sudbury Wolves. And he knew Isaak's game very well. And he's very familiar with Weeks's game as well. And he said that he was on a Wolves team with no defense. Isaak coming to the IceHogs left a big hole, a big Isaak Phillips sized hole on their defense back there. He was the busiest goaltender in the OHL. He made 1962 saves this season, which led the league. And Sudbury's only wins came from him. So their backup goaltender didn't get any wins this season. It was only him. He exceeded expectations. So he was on a bad team but played fairly well. So we will see what happens with Mitchell Weeks.
58:07
Moving on from the IceHogs and the Blackhawks here real quick.
58:11
With NHL-ish news, NHL-adjacent news maybe, if you will.
58:18
Mikko Koskinen, his deal with the Edmonton Oilers finally expires at the end of this season, and he signed a contract in Switzerland. So the Edmonton Oilers are off the hook for Mikko Koskinen. And maybe this is more of a win for him than for them. He is able to escape the Oilers and that organization.
58:44
In more NHL-related news, Vitali Kravtsov a prospect for the New York Rangers signed a one-year contract extension for $875,000. He's spent this past season in the KHL. He played 19 games, he scored 6 goals and 7 assists for 13 points. But in the playoffs, he played 15 games scoring 7 goals and 3 assists for 10 points. And I know he's a prospect that Rangers fans really enjoy, but he's kind of been almost forgotten about by the Rangers staff. So, I saw a lot of people talking this morning about how he might be traded instead of playing for the Rangers. But we will see.
59:36
Really quick, moving to the American Hockey League and their playoffs. They are still in the Conference Finals, so neither of these series got wrapped up this weekend as they could have.
59:49
Out east we have the Springfield Thunderbirds, the affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, taking on the Laval Rocket, the affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens. And Springfield has a 3-2 series lead. I believe when we checked in with them on Friday, they had a 2-1 series lead. So both teams got a win this weekend. In Game four, Laval won that game 3-2 in overtime. And game five, Springfield won that game of 3-2 in overtime. So pretty tight series there.
1:00:25
And out west, the Chicago Wolves and the Stockton Heat. When we checked in with them on Friday, the Chicago Wolves had a 3-0 lead in that series. And now it's 3-2. So Stockton back-to-back nights, Friday and Saturday, came out with some huge wins there at home. So game four, they won 4-3 in overtime. I watched that game actually. And then game five was on Saturday. Of course I was not home. And Stockton won 3-2 in overtime.
1:01:00
So the week ahead for the American League.
1:01:03
Tonight, Monday night, we have Game Six between the Springfield Thunderbirds and Laval Rocket. Will Springfield close it out? Will Laval tie up the series? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
1:01:17
And then Tuesday, tomorrow night, we have Game Six between the Chicago Wolves and the Stockton Heat. Will Chicago close out the series? Will Stockton tie it up? We'll have to wait and see.
1:01:30
And then Wednesday night, if necessary, we have game seven for both series. So, Springfield and Laval game seven if necessary, and Chicago and Stockton game seven if necessary.
1:01:44
Which of course leads to Thursday, and no games in the American League that night.
1:01:49
And the only game in the NHL until we talk again on Friday is game one of the Stanley Cup Final between the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning. And that is Wednesday night.
1:02:06
So, my friends, that will do it for this episode of The Cozy Cast, maybe the most disjointed episode so far. Definitely the most tired episode so far. It was bound to happen at some point since this is a Monday podcast. And I was hoping to record them all Monday mornings, but I don't always wake up in the morning. Today I did. So maybe that's the difference. Maybe since it's so early today. That's why this is so off the rails and disjointed.
1:02:41
But if you stuck around this long, I hope you got something out of it. It was entertaining? Maybe it's better than I thought it was in my head since, again, it's it's very tired up there today.
1:02:55
But yeah, thank you for tuning in.
1:02:58
If you are new to From Center Ice and this is your first episode, I am so sorry. But again, this is the From Center Ice Cozy Cast. A Monday morning/afternoon-ish podcast. Usually gets out sometime in the afternoon once I get it all edited and uploaded and transcribed, because full podcast episode transcripts are available on fromcenterice.com. So, if you would like to read along as I talk or, for our hearing-impaired friends, I have all of the transcripts available on the website. But once I get all of that done, usually it's afternoon by the time these get uploaded.
1:03:41
And again, it's a one hour long podcast, I'm going a few minutes over here, where it's just me talking about what's gone on over the weekend.
1:03:50
And on Friday evenings, we have the From Center Ice Happy Hour, which is mostly the same. Same type of deal. One hour, me talking about what's gone on throughout the week in the hockey world.
1:04:03
Siri: Sorry, could you say that again?
1:04:06
Okay, Siri talking to me on my watch. I don't know why Siri thinks I'm talking to her so much this morning.
1:04:14
But yeah, the Happy Hour is a Friday evening podcast, and this is the counterpart to that.
1:04:20
So go ahead and subscribe if you are listening to the audio version of this, or if you prefer listening to audio versions of podcasts but you found this on YouTube, this is also available wherever you listen to your podcasts. Apple, Spotify, Google, whatever Stitcher, all of those places it's available.
1:04:45
And if you are listening on there, please leave me a rating and a review. I would so greatly appreciate that. We don't have very many. So when one does pop up it makes me smile.
1:04:56
If you are listening to this on the audio version and you would like to watch it and like to see me talking to you, and talking to Siri apparently on my watch and on my computer, you can. It's youtube.com/c/fromcenterice. That link is also in the show notes for you, so you don't have to remember it.
1:05:17
But yeah, if you'd like to hear more from me or From Center Ice, fromcenterice.com is the place to do that. There's links to all the places over there. We're also on social media @vfcentericepod on Twitter. And @fromcentericepod on Instagram. Again, those links are also in the description or the show notes for you as well.
1:05:41
But yeah, thank you guys, so very much for tuning into this episode of the Cozy Cast. I think this is episode number six of the Cozy Cast. So that's 12 of these so far between the Happy Hour and this one. That's just crazy.
1:06:00
But yeah, thank you guys, because I wouldn't do this if you weren't here to listen to it. And I enjoy talking to you and having conversations about hockey. And I think of you all as my friends and I just enjoy having these conversations and it's a good time.
1:06:19
So thank you all so very much because wouldn't be here without you.
1:06:25
And I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful week.
1:06:29
I hope you maybe get reintroduced to some of your hobbies that you do outside of hockey since we don't have as much hockey on anymore.
1:06:41
But I hope you have a wonderful week. And I will see you on Friday for the Happy Hour or in the meantime on the YouTube with different videos. I'll have an Eastern Conference wrap up like I put up a Western Conference one last night. There will be a preview for the Stanley Cup Final, and there will be a recap of game one.
1:07:01
So I will see you somewhere, always talking about hockey somewhere, either video podcast or on Twitter.
1:07:09
But all that being said, I will catch you guys in whatever you listen to next.
1:07:16
Bye guys.
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