Happy Hour Ep. 4 - IT WAS A GOAL!
Happy Friday! Welcome to Episode 4 of the From Center Ice Happy Hour! I'm here to wind down your week by chatting about what went on this week in the hockey world.
We saw the Tampa Bay Lightning complete the sweep of the Florida Panthers. We saw Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers win the Battle of Alberta.
But, we are still awaiting the the other winner out East between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers - as well as out West between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues.
Let's talk some hockey!
Listen:
Full Episode Transcript:
00:10
Welcome to From Center Ice the podcast. My name is Courtney and happy Friday. And since it is Friday, you know that means. That this is the From Center Ice Happy Hour, and I am joining you and Happy Hour festivities.
00:26
I'll take a sip there.
00:32
But how was your week? I hope it was good.
00:35
We've had a nice, crazy week of hockey here. We're almost through with the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, which is crazy to think about.
00:45
It's also crazy to think about that it's only the second round because it feels like it's been going on for so much longer. Like I was talking to my friend the other day. And it seems like the whole Louis Domingue story in Pittsburgh was like years ago.
01:05
So time is strange, that's for sure.
01:08
But I wanted to start this episode on a not so happy note.
01:45
It's uh . . . I'm not going to start a debate over any sort of laws or anything like that. It's just absolutely heartbreaking. And it's hard to fathom that there is so much evil in this world. And so many lives are lost daily, because of it. But in situations like that, it's hard not to just take a step back and
02:41
There really aren't words for it. It's just senseless and heartbreaking. And I hope the community is able to come together and find a way to somehow rebound from that. I'm not sure how you do such a thing.
02:57
But if there's one thing that humans have adapted to over the years, it's being forced to know how to move on from tragedies.
03:10
So yeah, I'm so sorry, to everybody down there in Texas. That's, it's just heartbreaking. So my thoughts are with the community down there.
03:25
And there's another sad topic before we jump into the hockey.
03:31
Because there's no real good way to transition to them or out of them. So I thought I would mention all of this at the top of the show. So it doesn't just seem randomly thrown in.
03:45
Hockey is just a sport, you know, it's just a game. And some things are bigger than hockey, like I said. But it can also be a good distraction.
03:57
So people everywhere are dealing with a lot of hardships. So we'll use the rest of the show is kind of maybe a fun distraction from all of the things we are going through. But before we get to that, I have to mention that today, I saw on Twitter that Brock Boeser's father passed away.
04:31
And he passed away, I believe today if not yesterday. So my thoughts are with the Boeser family and with Brock. And I hope that they can find a way to pull together and get through that. I know just from seeing his end of year presser that it was really weighing on him, and that's hard. He's only 25 That's so young to lose a parent. And it's so difficult
05:02
I haven't talked about it a whole lot on the show. But I also lost my mom when I was 24. From breast cancer. So I know that it is, it is not easy. So my heart is with Brock and his family and all over the families affected down in Texas.
05:21
It's not something easy to go through ever, no matter how you end up losing somebody. It's never easy. So my hearts, my heart, is with all of you. And for all of you out there listening to this, I know that we're all going through stuff.
05:40
And I hope that my silly podcasts and recap videos can be sort of a distraction throughout the week from all of the hard stuff going on in the world. Even not just personal stuff. You know, the last two years, we've all gone through a lot together. So that's all we can really do is just keep sticking together and find our way through this.
06:08
But yeah, like I said, there's no real good way to transition out of a tough topic like that. But I wanted to bring it up because it is important. And yeah, it's it's just tough.
06:25
So we'll move on to talking about hockey.
06:28
I had to switch up how I'm reading my notes once again, because I still haven't had time to really fight with my printer. I'm sure I just need to realign it or clean the, the whatever the printer thing does. But with so much playoff hockey going on, I haven't really had time to think about the printer until it comes time to either record, the Happy Hour or the Cozy Cast. And I'm like, Oh yeah, I should, uh, I should try to figure out why my printer's not printing these pages correctly. But instead of using my phone today, and getting distracted by notifications, I pulled up the trusty ol iPad and pulled up my notes on there. It's also a lot easier to read the screen's bigger.
07:16
I don't know why I didn't do this before. I didn't think about it. But here we are. So got the notes on the good old iPad, which was also an ordeal because I plugged it in to my little charging port over here. But the charger station, if you will, is plugged into the same wall outlet that these violet lights behind me are plugged into. So I was like, why is the iPad not charging? And then it clicked, you dumbass, because it's not plugged in. So I had to plug it into my computer. But the first out the first USB outlet I tried, it said not charging so I had to switch it. You know, y'all. I try to come to the shows prepared and take notes. But then my printer doesn't want to work. And then my iPad doesn't want to charge.
08:07
But I got it fixed. So we have all of the notes here.
08:11
So let's go ahead and jump into talking about hockey. And as always, we will start with the NHL playoffs.
08:22
So the first series up is the Carolina Hurricanes versus the New York Rangers. This one has not gone final yet. It is a 3-2 series and that lead is held by the Carolina Hurricanes. It was tied to to to going into yesterday. There was a game in Carolina. So the Carolina Hurricanes won.
08:48
Game four, which was played in New York, the Rangers won by a score of 4-1, and then game five Carolina won 3-1. So, whoever has been winning these games has only been allowing like one or no goals. It's kind of strange, both 'tenders are playing out of their minds. Igor Shesterkin and Antti Raanta, that is.
09:15
But
09:18
Carolina is really confusing to me.
09:22
Because they have won every single game on home ice so far throughout these playoffs. So, four games in round one, and now three games here in round two. But they have lost every game on the road and they look like a completely different team. I don't understand what is going on. And then you come into yesterday's game after the Rangers had scored four goals in game four and I think three goals in game three, also at Madison Square Garden, and then they only score one goal in Carolina. So it's like their goal scoring suddenly dries up.
10:00
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes can suddenly score and then Raanta doesn't allow any goals but Shesterkin does. I don't know if there's some sort of magic spell put on the, I think, PNC Arena down there and Raleigh. I don't know what's going on, but it's confusing. Why do they look so bad on the road? And then they go home to Raleigh, and they look completely dominant. It's so strange. I know home ice advantage is a thing but usually not to that extent.
10:31
Also, Artemi Panarin and has been very frustrating to watch in this series. We all know that he's a very good hockey player.
10:42
An excellent hockey player, maybe if you will. One of the top left wings in the league, perhaps. And he has looked so bad in this series, and he didn't look overly great in round one. But I'm almost frustrated every time he hits the ice here in round two against the Hurricanes because he just ends up turning the puck over. He has picked up a few assists. He got a very nice one. Let's see, was it in New York? Maybe it was the one goal yesterday in Carolina. Either way, it was a an assist on a Mika Zibanejad power play goal I want to say.
11:30
Sent it across the ice and Zibanejad just blasted home the one timer. So that was a nice play. Nice pass there by Panarin.
11:36
And I also didn't realize . . . so if you are new to From Center Ice here, I am first and foremost a Chicago Blackhawks fan. The Toronto Maple Leafs are my second team. And because both of those teams are not currently in the playoffs, the Blackhawks were very far from even making the playoffs and the Leafs eliminated in seven by Tampa in round one. I have decided to cover the rest of the teams and do a recap of each night. So I've been watching all the rest of these games.
12:17
So anyway, I haven't paid a whole lot attention, a lot of attention, to the New York Rangers this season or really prior seasons.
12:30
So I didn't know exactly how good Mika Zibanejad was when he is on his game. But he's got to be one of the top centers in the league when he is on.
12:44
Because he just makes stuff happen. Maybe not to the extent that Connor McDavid makes stuff happen. But he'll win face offs, he's got a fantastic shot, he's pretty shifty with the puck, he can dish off passes to his linemates. So when he's on, he's one of the top players in the league in my opinion. But when he's not on, he's absolutely invisible. Call it the the Patrick Kane effect, if you will. Also one of the best players in the league when he's on, but sometimes you just forget he's playing. And it took Zibanejad until they went home to New York in this series to show up. And it took him a couple games in round one against Pittsburgh as well to show up. But once he did, the Rangers had something good going there. And he's been a bit more consistent here in round two. I think he had the only goal yesterday. But man, I really did not know just how good he was. So I am a brand new Mika ZIbanejad fan. Because I've had a lot of fun watching him. He also has probably the best hair in the entire National Hockey League. It just always looks perfect and clean and straight. And I don't know how he does it. He's just got the perfect hair. So congratulations, Mika. You have a new fan and you have perfect hair.
14:19
But talking about the Rangers and hair, I also really enjoy Igor Shesterkin's headband that he wears to keep his hair out of his face, because he's also got a flow going on. And he wears the headband under his goalie mask, which I think is just absolutely amazing. If you haven't seen it just Google Igor Shesterkin headband. And I know this because I googled the exact same thing yesterday when I was talking about his headband to somebody else.
14:50
So yeah, I think it's just fantastic.
14:55
And for somebody who didn't really care about the Rangers either way before the series, and was actually rooting for Pittsburgh and round one, I've actually had a lot of fun watching the Rangers here in round two. And I had fun watching them in round one as well. I was just rooting for the Pens to win. So I wasn't paying as much attention to them as I was the team from Pittsburgh. But yeah, maybe they'll be like another team I'm somewhat interested in but not fully invested in, because I cannot take on any more teams to be totally passionate about. I just can't do it. So that would be the Devils and the Rangers, which seems kind of blasphemous. So I'm sorry to any fans of the Rangers and/or the Devils out there who are listening to this.
15:47
I was a casual fan of the Devils first but I have also enjoyed watching the Rangers here in the playoffs. But
15:56
I'm going to move on from this series, but before I do I have the leaders for each team and goals assists and points and I have the goaltending stats here as well, because we haven't really caught up on stats in a while.
16:10
So we'll start with Carolina here. The goal scoring leader is Teuvo Teravainen with 4 goals in the playoffs so far. The assist leader is Tony DeAngelo with 8 which just made me gag and dry heave a bit as I was typing it out. But it is what it is. The point leader is Teuvo Teravainen with 11. And Antti Raanta is rocking a .931 save percentage right now through the playoffs and a 1.99 goals against average. That's madness. So, very good goaltending coming from Antti Raanta there in Carolina. Just wow.
16:55
For the Rangers. Their leader in goals is Mika Zibanejad And Chris Kreider. They are tied with 6 goals apiece. Chris Kreider's also a very good player, but I was kind of aware of that before. So, I mean, I wasn't surprised that Mika Zibanejad is a good player. I don't want to make it seem like that, because I knew he was. I just wasn't aware of how good he was. I want to clarify that.
17:28
Their assist leader is Adam Fox with 10 assists. And their point leader is Mika Zibanejad with 15. And then we have Igor Shesterkin in net. He is rocking a .924 save percentage and a 2.80 goals against average. So, some very good goaltending from Igor as well. The numbers aren't as good as Antti Raanta, is but he had to play Pittsburgh in round one, and they always just seem to find a way to score goals.
18:07
Now I'm even forgetting who Carolina played. Oh, the Boston Bruins, of course.
18:14
Anyway, moving on.
18:16
We have the Battle of Florida. That being the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. And Monday when I recorded the Cozy Cast, they had game four of their series that night. And Tampa Bay did end up sweeping the Florida Panthers. And it feels like the series has been over a lot longer than that. It feels like we haven't watched them play in a very long time.
18:45
And I was rooting for the Panthers to win. I very much did not want Tampa to win again. Have to take a drink before I talk about that.
19:00
Yeah, I didn't want Tampa to win. I wanted Florida to win. But it got to the point where I just wanted the series to be over. Because it was just so boring. And Florida looked so bad. And Tampa didn't really look great themselves, but definitely better than the Panthers.
19:20
So I wasn't really too upset once the sweep was final. Because that meant that the series was over and we could just move on and didn't have to watch any more of it. I'm just so curious what kind of injuries the Florida Panthers were playing with. Because all season long, they were the top goal scoring team, basically in the NHL. I believe they had the highest goals for in the league. And they won the President's Trophy. They were the top team in the NHL. And they were the combat cats. They'd go down in a game, but then they would somehow claw their way back and end up winning it.
20:08
But they had zero offense going in this series. And they really didn't look great against Washington either. I mean, that one didn't go all the way to seven, but it could have. It went to overtime and Game Six. I wish the Capitals would have won because I feel like they would have at least given us some sort of drama or excitement here in the second round. We would have seen at least some Ovechkin powerplay goals from his spot there in the left circle.
20:43
But instead we got the hyped up battle of Florida, which was a total flop. And Tampa Bay swept it.
20:52
And they won game for 2-0. So once again, Andre Vasilevskiy gets a shout out in a close out game. But Tampa had two goals called back in that game on challenges for a missed stoppage of play. And I want to say that the two goals were within a matter of like two playing minutes. It was madness. One for the puck going out of play, which they reviewed for a solid 8 to 10 minutes, because it got lost in the crowd as you're watching the replay. So they had to make sure it hit the netting and just didn't bounce off the glass and back into play. Because it can do that it just can't hit the netting and then come back into play. So there was that one. And then the second one, Anthony Cirelli won the face off with his glove instead of with his stick. So it should have been called dead for a hand pass. And it wasn't. So they scored right away right off the face off. And then Andrew Brunette challenged it. He's the coach of the Florida Panthers. And it was called back because it should have been called a hand pass. It was just madness.
22:04
At that point, it kind of felt like Florida would be able to come back in that game, and win it and at least push the series to five because you get two breaks like that, you have to take advantage of that and score a goal and then win the game. But they couldn't even score one. I mean, it's just, it's bad.
22:26
They did look better in that game, credit to them. I guess. They were out shooting Tampa for most of it, they might have out shot them overall at the end of the game. And they looked like they were trying to get some offensive chances going. The second goal, I believe was an empty netter just at the end. So they had every chance to tie it up and just couldn't and they got swept.
22:54
So I don't know, I think maybe throughout the season having to fight back so often and claw their way back into games so many times, I think they might have just run out of luck, or energy.
23:09
And by the time the playoffs came around, they had used up all of their energy on coming back in regular season games. And then it just wasn't there in the playoffs, which is unfortunate.
23:26
And this team will likely look a bit different next year. So I don't know if they'll be able to learn from that experience and then maybe not pay as much attention in the regular season. Still win enough to get into the playoffs and maybe a preferable seed, you get home ice advantage but not waste all of your energy in the regular season trying to fight your way back into games and then just have nothing left by the time the playoffs roll around.
24:02
But let's go over the leaders for these two teams before we move on to the next series.
24:07
For the Florida Panthers, the leader in goals was Carter Verhaeghe with 6. And their leader in assists was also Carter Verhaeghe with 6. And their leader in points was Carter Verhaeghe with 12. So once he stopped scoring then basically all of the offense for the Panthers just dried up and he could not carry them on his back any longer. And sweep, it was. But yeah, it's it's unfortunate. Bobrovsky had a .911 save percentage and a 2.70 goals against average. So pretty average numbers there. Not terrible but also not very good. Especially compared to some of the other playoff goaltenders. But not terrible. Had Florida been able to score any sort of goals there in the second round, they could have at least one a game or two because they were fairly close. But it just wasn't there.
25:23
So for Tampa Bay, they have two players tied for the goal scoring lead being, as everybody would have expected, Ross Colton and Corey Perry with 5. That's right. The goalscoring leaders through two rounds of the playoffs for the Tampa Bay Lightning are Ross Colton and Corey Perry. Yep. The assistant leader is Nikita Kucherov with 11. That makes a little bit more sense. And their point leader Nikita Kucherov with 15. So 11 assists four goals. He's almost up there. If he would have scored one more. He'd also be tied with Ross Colton and Corey Perry. But alas, he has 4. And Vasilevskiy now has a .932 save percentage. I believe it was in the eight hundreds there against Toronto. So this series against the Florida Panthers really boosted his numbers up. And his goals against average is 2.22. So some good numbers there for Andre Vasilevskiy. Because the offense for the Panthers absolutely dried up in the second round.
26:45
It'll be interesting to see . . . oh, here comes my cat. Did you want to say something about the Florida Panthers since they are cats? Do you have something to say? No. You just gonna smell the floor? Come on. Do you want to make your debut on tonight's Happy Hour? Do you want to sit right in front of the microphone like you did during the Cozy Cast on Monday? No, you want to rub on the cords? That seems to be a common trend for you, buddy. You're gonna lay on the papers down there and make a bunch of noise. Are you going to come up and say hi to your fans? Come on. There you go. Come in to say hi to your fans. Do you have anything to say? No. You don't have anything to say. What do you think about the Florida Panthers? Why do you think they stopped scoring goals? Why did they get swept by the Tampa Bay? Lightning? I don't think the answer is my knee. But thank you for sniffing it. You're just gonna rub on the table. You don't have anything to say to your fans? No, you're leaving now? Did you just need to make your grand appearance and give a silent opinion about the Florida Panthers? Okay, buddy, have fun doing super important cat business.
28:07
Anyway, I don't remember what I was saying now.
28:10
Oh, it'll be interesting to see, in the third round - whether Vasilevskiy faces the Hurricanes or the Rangers - what his numbers end up being. But maybe those teams won't be able to score either because they seem to have a difficult time scoring against each other. Sometimes. On the road, they do least.
28:37
But let's move out of the east and go out West.
28:43
And we will start with the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues.
28:49
That series has not been decided yet. Colorado has a 3-2 series lead. In Game four, they won 6-3. But in game five, with their season on the line, the St. Louis Blues won 5-4 in overtime. Both of those goals or . . . Both of those games were insane for different reasons.
29:19
So game four was in St. Louis. And we had talked about, after game three, how Nazem Kadri was experiencing a bunch of racial harassment and targeted threats toward him and his family. And then he came out in game four . . . my cat has an opinion about Colorado apparently. Nope. He's leaving now. I don't know what that's supposed to mean. Maybe he thought he had an opinion but didn't.
29:48
Anyway Kadri came out in game four with all of that against him and scored a hat trick. Which was just, it was nice to see. Like, good for him. I know it doesn't fix anything that he had to deal with or erase any of the threats and whatnot that he had to see. But he was able to lead his team to a win. And getting a hat trick is always nice, especially on enemy ice there and a place where people are not being very good to you.
30:29
And then, in game five, it came back to Colorado. The Avalanche had a chance to close out the series and to move on to the Western Conference Final for the first time in 20 years. They haven't done it since 2002. And they went into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead. They scored in the second period to get a 3-0 lead.
31:01
And then here comes St. Louis, they tie it up with three straight goals. So it's tied 3-3.
31:10
And then Nathan MacKinnon.
31:12
Nathan MacKinnon, sitting on two goals - He had scored two goals in the first period - they were both his, he comes out in the third with about four or five minutes left and scores the goal of the playoffs so far.
31:32
He takes the puck from his own end, in the left faceoff circle, skates all the way down the ice through all of the Blues defenders, he goes one on one, with Nick Leddy in the left circle in the offensive zone. He goes inside outside on Nick Leddy. The puck, at one point, is between his legs. It's on his backhand, he gets it to the forehand, and then just roofs it over Ville Husso's stick. And oh, my goodness, the individual effort on that goal. MacKinnon just took over and said I am scoring this goal getting my team the 4-3 lead, we need to advance to the next round.
32:19
And then St. Louis tied it up with under a minute to go. It goes to overtime.
32:27
And Tyler Bozak scores about three and a half minutes into overtime to win the game and extend the series. And now it goes back to St. Louis.
32:39
And, oh, I'm really glad that I'm not a Colorado Avalanche fan. I need to take another drink before talking about this one too.
32:56
But I'm very glad I'm not an Avalanche fan because I usually am really not a huge fan of the Avs. And I've gone over why I've held a grudge for a very long time when I had standing room tickets to a hawks and Avs game and the ushers wouldn't let us sit in empty seats. So we had to stand the whole time and then the Avs shut them out 4-0. And so I just hold a grudge you know, as one does.
33:28
But hold on my recorder is having a life of its own over here. Alright. I think we're good.
33:38
Anyway. Yeah, I've held a grudge against the Avs ever since then. And that was years ago. But usually, I'm not a super huge fan of them. I like some of their players. I'm a big fan of Mikko Rantanen, who really needs to show up in the playoffs, which is kind of a funny thing to say and you'll see why in just a few minutes. But uh oh, Siri, don't start talking to me. I didn't ask to talk to you just want to open my lockscreen there, okay.
34:07
But I was sitting there watching that game five against the Blues. And I was feeling so much anxiety. And I thought that I was done with playoff anxiety once Toronto was eliminated because they were my team that was left since the Blackhawks didn't make the playoffs. It was all on Toronto. And once they were eliminated, well, I thought there went my playoff anxiety with them. But apparently, I was wrong because I felt it during that game five, and it had to be even worse for people who are actually fans of the Avalanche.
34:48
They had every chance to close that game out. It was 3-0.
34:54
3-0.
34:55
And I know that a three goal lead is one of the worst to have in hockey, I know. But they looked absolutely dominant in the first half of the game. St. Louis looked like they didn't even show up. And then they just start playing back on their heels and trying to protect the lead. But they very much could not do that. And so St. Louis came out with a push because, Do or die, they tie up the game.
35:30
Nathan MacKinnon goes full god-mode and scores a highlight reel goal that will be a highlight reel goal for years. And the Avs can't take advantage of that. They allow the tying goal with under a minute left in regulation. And there's just there's something going on with that right side defense for Colorado, because the Blues keep hammering that side. They'll take the shot from the from their right wing side. And when I say right side defense, I mean Darcy Kuemper's stick side and he catches left like you usually see from goaltenders. There are a few that catch right. But the defenders on his stick side, two of those goals that were scored in game five came off of it shot hitting Kuemper, Kuemper making the initial stop, and then the puck just dying on that far side. And the defenders not cleaning it up, not keeping Blues out of the crease, and them just bashing the puck home into the net. So whoever's over there needs to really help Darcy Kuemper out, because he's also not having the best series. He's made some very good stops, that's for sure. But he hasn't stolen a game yet. And they might need him to do that. If they want to advance to the third round, he's going to need to be on his "A" game. And I hope that they don't get super frustrated.
37:23
I'm kind of feeling the same way that I did going into game three, because they lost Game Two at home. And I think they only scored one goal in that game, if I'm remembering correctly. But they had all sorts of chances, they just couldn't score. And it looked like they were getting super frustrated. And I had said that that seems to be when the Avs just fall apart and can't close out a series is when they get frustrated. And I could see this last here in game five, being really frustrating. Again, having a 3-0 lead, and then a 4-3 lead, you get the lead back after St. Louis ties it up. And then they score with less than a minute to go to take it to overtime when you think just maybe finally we have defeated our demons and we are moving on to the third round. And then you have to come out and play overtime. And Colorado had, I believe, five shots on goal in that short over time period. And St. Louis only had two. But one of those went in and that's the difference there and Darcy Kuemper really should have had that save. It wasn't a difficult one to make. Credit Tyler Bozak for taking a nice shot, but it wasn't unsavable by any means. It was just a wrist shot from the high slot and beat Darcy Kuemper to the glove side. He really needed to save that. And if on the Avs, I'm frustrated. Especially Nathan MacKinnon coming out getting a hat trick, scoring a highlight reel goal to get his team to lead again after they coughed it up.
39:19
And then once again, they're sitting here wondering if they can advance but tonight is only game six. So it's not technically a do or die for them. But I think they need to treat it like it is because if they go to a game seven, then that's when all of the doubt starts creeping in because they haven't been able to move past the second round in 20 years. They had a 3-1 series lead. Are we really going to do this and cough it up and lose in game seven? And you have all of that weighing on you and it's at home in Colorado.
40:00
So if you lose, you do it in front of all of your home fans and your family. That's a lot of pressure. So they really need to win tonight in game six, just close it out, not have to worry about a game seven. Know that you can finally get past that hurdle, you can get to the Western Conference Final, and then just go from there.
40:28
But we'll see if they can get out to a lead early. But maybe let St. Louis score first this time, because they had scored first in the first four games of the series. And three of those four resulted in an Avalanche win. And then in game five, the Avs finally scored first and a game and then tragedy struck that game basically is how it felt. So maybe they need to think of the superstitiously and like we need the Blues to score first and then we will come back and we will win instead of just getting very complacent. But we'll see I guess.
41:15
I shouldn't go on talking about the series for too much longer. I'm just very, very upset with how that game ended. It was ridiculous.
41:24
So we will talk about the leaders for both of these teams.
41:27
For St. Louis, the goalscoring leader is David Perron with 9. The assist leader is Pavel Buchnevich with 10. And their point leader is David Perron, with 13. So 9 goals and 4 assists for David Perron there. And I have Ville Husso stats, because Jordan Binnington don't really matter since he's out for the rest of the series here. Husso has an .884 save percentage and a 3.78 goals against average. He did play, let's see, who did they play in the first round? They played Minnesota. He started the first three games, I want to say, of that series and then Jordan Binnington took over. So the stats aren't just from against Colorado, but it is the worst save percentage of remaining goaltenders and I believe, also the worst goals against average from remaining goaltenders. But he hasn't played a full series yet. So take that as you will.
42:37
For the Colorado Avalanche. Their goal scoring leader is Nathan MacKinnon with 8.Of course, 3 of those came in game five. Their assists, they have dual leaders here Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen both have 10 assists in the playoffs so far to lead the team. And their point leaders, there are two, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar with 13. Which is kind of funny to me, because it took Nathan MacKinnon five games to really show up to this series. And Cale Makar really also hasn't been that great. Especially defensively, he was he was over there on Kuemper's stick side when the tying goal went in. So yeah, we're gonna need to see more out of Mr. Cale in game five here. But we're also going to see are going to have to see more out of the goaltender Darcy Kuemper. He has a .904 save percentage in the playoffs so far, and a 2.50 goals against average. Now his goals against average is pretty average, if you will, among the goaltenders left but he has the lowest save percentage outside of Ville Husso for the goaltenders left in the playoffs, and .904 really is not good.
44:22
So they really need Kuemper to step up his game. Again, I said that he has made some very big stops for the Avalanche and he has an he has kept them in games, especially when St Louis does score first he has kept them in it so they have been able to come back and then win three of those four games. But they needed him badly in game five. They needed him to come up with a big game changing save. They needed him to, I don't know, do something miraculous there so that they could walk away from that game with a win. But while the loss wasn't completely on him, and I don't want to make it sound like that by any means, because the team in front of him just kind of gave up playing after they had the three to nothing lead there. They needed him to really steal that one and cement the series win.
45:25
So here in game six tonight, hopefully they get more out of Darcy Kuemper than what they did in game five. And I would assume that he will be determined to do so. But we will see if he is out-dueled by Ville Husso.
45:44
Sorry, I just I realized that that would rhyme and then I had to do it and kind of hate myself for it.
45:50
But we'll just move right along here. And let's go to the last series in the West, which was decided last night, which was the Battle of Alberta between the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames.
46:09
And Edmonton won that series four to one. They were . . . they were defeated in game one 9-6 by Calgary. And then they must have taken that personally because they won the next four games and Calgary looked like absolute shit for most of the time. Edmonton won Game four, 5-3. And then they won game five yesterday 5-4 in overtime.
46:46
And that was pretty controversial itself. Game five was filled with madness, really. In the second period, there were seven goals scored total between the two teams. And they set the record for the fastest four playoff goals in NHL history, scoring four goals between the two teams in 1 minute and 11 seconds. Just think about that 1 minute and 11 seconds, and there were four goals scored in an NHL playoff game. We were robbed of another two games in this batshit series.
47:42
Very upset that Edmonton won. Of course I was rooting for the Calgary Flames because I cannot root for Evander Kane or Mike Smith but mostly Evander Kane. So I was upset that Calgary lost for that reason, but also upset that they lost because I wanted this series to go seven. And I think we, as hockey fans, deserved this series to go seven, but it did not.
48:10
And the third reason I am mad that Calgary lost last night's game was because they should have won. They scored a goal in the last few minutes. I don't know exactly when it was but it was called back after it was reviewed for a distinct kicking motion. And so the puck was, it got behind Mike Smith, it was looking like it was going to go into the net. And then Blake Coleman and I think it was Cody Ceci, defender for the Oilers, Blake Coleman being a forward for the Calgary Flames, go crashing into the crease. Coleman trips on Mike Smith, his right foot hits Mike Smith pad so he ends up lifting it up, his left foot hits the puck and it goes into the net. And that's why it was reviewed for a distinct kicking motion. But I still don't think that was a kick.
49:20
We have seen goals all throughout the season that were way more cut and dry, that have been allowed to count, but they have actually been kicked into the net. And on this one Coleman's foot doesn't even lift off the ice. So I'm not sure how you kick something with your foot on the ice. Plus, that was the only foot that he had on the ice and he was trying to stop so he didn't run into the net. And his foot went sideways because his other foot hit Mike Smith's pad. And I'm doing a very bad job of explaining this because a lot happened in that like, second and a half. So if you didn't see the replay, go back and watch the replay and maybe you will disagree. Maybe you think that that is a distinct kicking motion. But it's it's just so infuriating watching all of these NHL games.
50:28
And there is zero consistency with what they call. If goals like that had been taken off the board all season long, then people would not be upset about it like they are. But goals were allowed all throughout the season that looked much more intentionally kicked into the net than that one.
50:57
And then a goal that could have extended Calgary's playoff run was taken off of the board because that was the go ahead goal. Instead it went to overtime and Connor McDavid scored. Edmonton won the series. And Calgary is eliminated. It's just infuriating.
51:19
All we ask for is consistency. But we never get it. The officials are never held accountable. And not just the officials. but the goal judges up in Toronto and the War Room, as they call it. Nobody is ever held accountable for there being zero consistency in what is allowed or disallowed in this league. And I still don't know what goaltender interference is, I don't know what a kick is. I thought I knew what a kick was. But apparently, according to the NHL, I have no idea what it kick looks like.
52:02
And I just don't know how they think they are going to get casual fans. If players, if coaches, if analysts, if people who talk about this sport and this league for a living, don't know what the rules are. How is any casual fan suppose to grasp it and say that they just want to keep watching? Because yes, I totally understand what is happening!
52:33
When night in and night out, something happens that nobody understands.
52:39
Like, it's just so infuriating, all we want is consistency. And if there was consistency, people wouldn't be so angry about it. And if they're going to review something like that, I get that these officials when they have to call plays in real time, like the kicking. And the goal was originally allowed on the ice, it was signaled as a good goal. So they had to have overwhelming evidence to turn it over. To say that it should be called back as no goal.
53:18
Which, fine. We have the coach's reviews for that reason. So they can go back, take a look at the review, watch it on their screens, people in Toronto can watch it. But if we're going to have coach's challenges like this, they need to get the call right every single time.
53:37
And if that is not possible, because some of these reviews take like that out of play call in Tampa, some of these reviews take close to 10 minutes. If it is that hard to see whether a goal should or should not count. Then you either go with the call that was on the ice because it is inconclusive. Or you make more of these rules black and white. So it is not left up to somebody determining whether or not that it was kicked.
54:13
Either goals can never go off of a skate or you just eliminate the kicking rule.
54:19
So we either need rules to be more black and white. Or you need to just get rid of the coach's challenges. Or if it takes over two minutes to look at these replays, then go with the call on the ice because it's clearly too close to even matter if something did or did not happen.
54:44
And that's where most of my frustration comes in over that but I will stop droning on about whether it was a goal or not a goal wish it was a goal.
54:53
But the leaders for this series, well not for the series, for these two teams in the playoffs.
55:00
We will start with Calgary, because they are now eliminated. Their goal leaders were Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund with 5 goals apiece. Their assistant leader was Johnny Gaudreau. Their points leader was Johnny Gaudreau. With 14. He had 11 assists. So 11 assists three goals. And their goaltender Jacob Markstrom a .901 save percentage and a 2.95 goals against average, that is not good.
55:31
And he is a Vezina finalist this year. So he just he had a very bad playoffs.
55:40
Then we go to Edmonton. Their goal leader is Evander Kane with 12. So the Evander Kane redemption tour is allowed to go on since they are in the next round. There assist leaders are Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with 19. And their points leaders are Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with 26. Both guys have 19 assists and 7 goals. And Connor McDavid is a +19 In the playoffs, which is just unheard of. The next guy behind him is +11, and that is Darnell nurse on his team. The next non-Oiler is a +9, and that is Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes.
56:29
So Connor McDavid a +19 the next non-Oiler, a +9. And I know plus/minus is not a be all end all stat but that is just mind boggling.
56:41
Also mind boggling. Playoff points per game. So Leon Draisaitl is sitting at a 1.61 points per game, Connor McDavid is point . . . Nope. 1.45 goals, not goals, points per game in the playoffs, and when you rank them next to all time players, with at least 30 games played in the playoffs. Gretzky has a 1.84 points per game. Mario Lemieux 1.61 Leon Draisaitl 1.61. He is tied for second all time.
57:34
Third, Barry Peterson who played with the Bruins in the playoffs from 82 to 86 with 1.53 and then Connor McDavid with 1.45.
57:48
Both of them are up there all time for points per game in the playoffs, which is just, it's madness. It really is.
58:00
And Leon Draisaitl now has the most points in a battle of Alberta series with 17. Behind him is Gretzky. He had 14 points in the Battle of Alberta in 1983. In 1986, he had 13 and he also had 13 and 1984. And then behind him is Lanny McDonald with 13 also in 1984, so McDavid and Draisaitl. Wow. That's all you can really say is wow.
58:36
But it just sucks that a lot of that is being tarnished, because the Edmonton Oilers decided to go out and sign Evander Kane in the middle of the season. So I just cannot root for them.
58:51
A quick update here on the American Hockey League playoffs. I won't spend too much time here since we've only got a couple of minutes left here in this hour.
59:00
But between the Springfield Thunderbirds and the Charlotte Checkers, Springfield being the affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, Charlotte, the affiliate of the Florida Panthers and the Seattle Kraken. Springfield leads that series 2-0. It is a best of five series in this round.
59:17
The Rochester Americans versus the Laval Rocket. Rochester, the affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. Laval, the affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens. Laval swept that series 3-0 with a three overtime game, where they won 6-5 in game three. Just crazy. Triple overtime. As soon as I turned it on, they scored to win the game. I felt kind of cheated out of a longer game, but Oh, well.
59:46
Next up the Colorado Eagles versus the Stockton Heat. Colorado being the affiliate of Colorado, the Stockton Heat being the affiliate of the Calgary Flames. Stockton is currently up 2-0 in to that series.
1:00:01
Then last but not least, the Milwaukee Admirals and the Chicago Wolves. The Milwaukee Admirals affiliated with Nashville. The Chicago Wolves affiliated with the Carolina Hurricanes. Chicago leads that series 2-1.
1:00:15
This weekend, the AHL schedule. Tonight, Friday night, the Chicago Wolves and Milwaukee admirals play game four. Chicago can advance if they win. The Stockton Heat and Colorado Eagles play game three. Stockton can sweep the series if they win.
1:00:32
Tomorrow, Saturday, the Springfield Thunderbirds and the Charlotte Checkers play game three. Springfield can sweep the series with a win.
1:00:41
On Sunday. We have Chicago and Milwaukee game five if necessary. Springfield and Charlotte game four if necessary, and Stockton and Colorado game four if necessary.
1:00:56
Then for the schedule for the NHL this weekend.
1:01:00
Tonight, Friday night, we have Game Six between the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues. Colorado can advance if they win.
1:01:09
Saturday, we have Game Six between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers. Carolina can advance if they win.
1:01:17
And then Sunday, we have Colorado versus St. Louis if necessary in game seven.
1:01:24
So that brings us to an hour here on the From Center Ice Happy Hour. This one went a little quicker. There was a lot to cover in there. And I didn't even get to everything. So some will be left over for the Cozy Cast on Monday. But we will have a good idea what the conference finals look like in both the NHL and the AHL on Monday.
1:01:47
So I look forward to seeing that. I hope all of you have a wonderful, wonderful weekend. And we get some really good hockey games in there as well.
1:01:57
So thank you all so much for tuning in. And joining me for another From Center Ice Happy Hour. I appreciate you guys so much.
1:02:05
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1:02:15
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1:02:28
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1:02:35
But all of that housekeeping being taken care of thank you guys so much. Once again for tuning in to another Happy Hour with me. I appreciate you.
1:02:45
And I will catch you all for the Cozy Cast on Monday.
1:02:50
Bye guys.
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