Anybodyhome

Vegas adapted to their opponents. Let's not forget they were the 4th best team in the league behind Boston, Carolina and NJ. But nobody, including me, paid much attention because they're out west, where games don't start until 10PM EST. Anyway, as I said, Vegas adapted. Florida thought they could come out and punch them in the mouth and get away with it. Ask Matthew Tkachuk, Gudas, Bennett and Paul Maurice how that worked out for them. Vegas played just as heavy when they needed to and managed to stay out of the box and keep their focus on the goal. Meanwhile, Cheap-shot Tkachuk was racking up more PIM than ice time, and Florida forgot about the end-game and thought they could win by playing physical. When it came time for Florida to actually play some skill hockey, it was too late, and they didn't have the horses, skill set or determination of the 2022-2023 Stanley Cup Champs. Congrats to Vegas.

Laviolette is the only coach to take 3 different teams to the Cup finals. That being said, the NHL is the worst for recycling coaches.

I get what you're saying, but the guy has never really had the opportunity to play with the big boys consistently. So, maybe get something for him and let him have an opportunity elsewhere.

Yep. He's now earned the second highest PIM total in NHL finals history. Another 14 minutes of penalties, almost equal to the amount of ice time he had (16:40). Fug him. He's a cheap shot player right there with Gudas and Bennett. Fugging Bennett grabbed goalie Adin Hill in a headlock from behind when the horn sounded last night after hill stoned him in front of the net. Tkachuk was hitting guys in the backs of their legs after the final horn last night. In hockey, you wanna fight someone, drop the gloves and fight.

The third period of game 3 was as good a hockey period as I've seen in some time. Despite the 23 penalties called during the first 2 periods, the third period looked completely different. Although Vegas thoroughly outplayed Florida (although, you'd never know if listened to the TNT idiots), Florida found a way.

So this hit the wires on Thursday. Apparently, according to several outlets, Jack Drury requested a trade from the Canes last season. The 42nd overall pick in the 2018 draft has been used sparingly and was only brought up for good this season when both Max Pacioretty and Andre Svetchnikov went down with injuries. https://www.markerzone.com/news/index.php?no=244595 Jack Drury, a former second round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes reportedly requested a trade out of town last season. Rumors are swirling that the Hurricanes may be willing to accommodate that request. Drury has taken a very interesting path to the NHL. Drafted out of the USHL in 2018, Drury then spent two years playing for the men's hockey program at Harvard University. He then left school during the pandemic to spend a year playing for Vaxjo in the Swedish Hockey League before finally joining the Hurricanes organization. After a year in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves, Drury split this past season with Chicago and Carolina, where he was productive in Chicago, but struggled to find ice time in Carolina. The Hurricanes are a perennially strum NHL outfit and forward spots have been limited to younger prospects. Drury has been blocked at his natural center ice position by Sebastian Aho, Jordan Staal, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. With rumors of Alex DeBrincat wanting out of Ottawa, maybe the Hurricanes can accommodate Drury's request and send him to Canada's capital. The Hurricanes are in need of elite wingers and Ottawa may be the perfect place for Drury to get a fresh start and more playing time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I would suggest that he may be right, given the fact he's buried on the depth chart and, just completing his 5th full season under contract, he wants to go somewhere he can play full time. Can't say I blame him and, to be honest, he may be a trade piece necessary to bring one of the few pieces Carolina needs to get this team over the top.

5 penalties in the 1st period. I think the league has passed the word after the debacle in Game 2.

As well as Max Pacioretty. Say what you will, but he was replaced with Jack Drury and Pool Party.

Another tidbit after last night's game: Cheap-shot Chucky now has 60 PIM this post season. He got 2 10-minute misconducts last night alone. Florida as a team collected 84 PIM last night. But, hey, those TNT guys are still sporting big woodys for the Panthers. By the end of the game there were only 6 skaters and a goalie on the bench for Florida, with the 5 guys on the ice. And Maurice was laughing abut it. Be interesting to see if the league actually does something and suspends someone.

You guys need to remember Bob won 2 Vezina Trophies in 2013 and 2017. So, it's not like the guy is a total scrub. But he did lay out of his mind thru round 2 and 3. On the other hand, the Panthers have done him no favors by getting away from their 5-man play house defense. They're more concerned with trying to play a physical game and allowing opposing players to come right down Main Street unchecked. Those first 2 goals last night might have been some of the worst defense I've seen in the playoffs.

Cheap-shot Tkachuk gets blasted into the net, goes after the back of Hill's legs, then hits him in the head and Hill just went right back at him.

Breaking: Keith Jones is still a jerk-off.

Fug Florida.... again.

Sunset Beach, NC

Rumors abound regarding a trade with Winnipeg to acquire Mark Scheifele. His last 6 years with the Jets looked like this. And his current salary is $6M.

Adin Hill is in net for Vegas. They had Robin Lehner, he went to IR and Jonathan Quick is the backup.

This. Florida tried to come out physical and it worked.... for about 12 minutes. During a first period play in front of the net, when Sam Bennett got behind Vegas goalie Hill and cross-checked him from behind and the first scrum of the game occurred, which included Hill throwing a blocker punch, it took a couple minutes, but Vegas decided they weren't going to get pushed around. That being said, Bruce Cassidy (Vegas coach) is a dick; Cheapshot Tkachuk and Bennett were the asshats everyone expected them to be and Bob is human.

Fug Florida.

Has Vegas always had a hurricane siren to start their games?

Would you say that if it was Boston or NY? No? Fug 'em all. I don't have to be loyal to anyone but the team I support.

I'll stick with these UFAs if the Canes want to "get heavier." Ryan Donato, Pierre Engvall, Ivan Barbashev, Michael Bunting, Jonathan Drioun, Tyler Bertuzzi....

Marner is currently making nearly $2M more than Aho. Talk about a cap buster. The Canes would have to extend Aho by $2-3M AAV just to keep him. Can you honestly see the Canes paying Marner and Aho $11M each or more? I don't think so. Especially after Waddell's comments hinting at wanting to sign Aho for another 8 years. Doesn't make sense.

Vegas might be the most physical team in the West. They're probably right on par with Florida, and I would expect each team will try to establish that physical presence, especially on home ice. Should be interesting to see how far the refs let things go before the league office tells them to shut it down. But, I guarantee, if the series goes to 2-2, there may not be any let down.

Let's look at Aho's playoff production over the past 5 seasons: I tend to agree with the sentiment that he'll obviously help the team get to 100 points and make the playoffs year in and year out, but will he make the impact that gets this team to a Cup final? The reality is Aho puts up nearly a point per game during the season (.90 to be exact). He's better in the playoffs at a .92. But that's a deceiving statistic because it's more than the point total. It's the impact he has on the game. If I'm an opposing coach, I worry about Aho in a couple scenarios: PK- his ability to get away and get a short-handed opportunity is downright scary. Second, regular season overtime (3-on-3). Another situation where his ability is on full display and he can make you look silly (say hello, Tony DeAngelo). But 5-on-5? I'm not so sure. He'll get his point per game average, may even have a goal and a couple assists, but is he the go-to guy with the game on the line much like (dare I say) Matthew Tkachuk? Or Zibanejad, or Robertson.... Hell, I'd go so far to say that when Necas is on his game, he's more impactful on a game of 5-on-5 than Aho. We'll find out soon enough if Aho is going to get $10M from the Canes after the 23-24 season. Especially if TT, Martinook, Chatty, Skjei, Pesce (also UFAs) and the RFA list of Necas, Drury, Jarvis, Suziki and Rees are all still needing contracts.

He had a few breakdowns, but, that's to be expected. Hell, Slavin got real sloppy in the ECF and was directly responsible for a couple goals. So, I'm not worrying about that. The upside to Chatfield's game in huge and one very important aspect of his game that goes unnoticed (except for Tripp mentioning it) is his speed. Any idea how many icing calls were negated with his speed? It helps him get to the boards quicker and he gets around the back of the net very quickly. He took some huge hits during the playoffs and never wavered. Chatty often talks about how Burns helps him with his game, how, during practice, he can ask questions and Burns takes the time to work through moves and techniques. Chatty is under contract thru the end of next season, so I think the Canes will likely give him a new deal sometime this year. Pesce and Skjei will also be UFAs at the end of next season, and the Canes need to think about half of their starting defensive starters this coming season.