Latest / Backchecking the Bolts / Lightning Stay Alive! Tampa Bay Wins Game 6 in OT vs Montreal, Forces Game 7

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Lightning Stay Alive! Tampa Bay Wins Game 6 in OT vs Montreal, Forces Game 7 · Backchecking the Bolts

• Jason Linkes: Coming up, I'm back checking the bolts. As a Tata space, he goes, you know, kind of head fakes towards the mineral net draws two Canadians out towards him. Passes it down low to Dominic James. Now it's a two on one down low. Gonzales is doing a hell of a job in front of the net to get positioned. Caden Gouley kind of gets stuck in it in no man's land. He's between James and Gonzales. He's got to make a decision. Do I go out and play James? Or do I try and block the pass? He tries to block the pass. James fits it through. Consolves first whack at it gets stopped by Dobish, which is a nice save. But Consolves as he's falling to the ice, swats it in on the rebound before help can arrive for his Montreal Goal Tenant. Welcome to Back Checking the Bolts. Back Checking the Bolts is your cup of coffee to get you the latest on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Join host Jason Linkus and the managing editor of Raw Charge, Justin Godfrey, as they break down the Lightning's most recent games and go beyond the highlights, telling you what the box scores didn't. It's time to drop the puck. you Well, how about that one? That was one hell of a hockey game. I don't care if you're a Montreal fan or a Tampa fan that was as action packed of a, as a one, nothing game as you are going to get. Ladies and gentlemen, Hey, you're on the back checking the bolts podcast. am Jason link is your host and I'm always joined by the managing editor of raw charge. is Justin Godfrey. You can read him. Each and every day at www.rawcharge.com. Justin, that was a memorable one. That was, that game had a little bit of everything for a one nothing game though. That was just intense, exciting hockey. Yeah. I mean, pretty much from the start of the game straight through, mean, first of all, that crowd is absolutely fired up. Deafening would probably be a good word for it from the get go. Lightning came out. mean, Both teams were trading chances early on in the first period. think both teams were played with a little bit of desperation and both teams needed to. mean, the Lightning definitely, but I think Montreal really wanted to win that game in front of their home crowd. I feel like they thought they had the Lightning on the ropes a little bit, the Lightning frustrated a little bit and they wanted to end it in game six. So they were coming out, they were playing the perfect counter punch game against the Lightning who were taking way more chances than they had in the previous five games of the series, which they really needed to do. And that just makes for exciting, exciting hockey. And then you have both goaltenders kind of standing on their head throughout the game, just everything you could possibly want. mean, if, if you're a casual observer to this game, it's probably a little bit less stressful, but yeah, as a Lightning, as a Lightning guy, stressful. I'm pretty sure the Montreal fans were, heart medication as well. But, ⁓ yeah, just a really great game. ⁓ and the Lightning found new, they got back to finding a way to come out on top and it was a, it was a depth line that scored. ⁓ It wasn't the top line, but then again, you had your best, your best player in that game was your best player. And that was Audrey Masoleski. No, no doubt about it. No, if sensor, but he was the best player in that game. when they write my obituary, they can easily say over time, playoff hockey will have taken five years off of my life. No doubt about that. At the absolute minimum. mean, we could be talking about a decade easily. So, but yeah, no, it's just. ⁓ pretty much, I think from the middle of the second period on you, you got that feeling that it wasn't going to be, you know, a four to one finish. It was going to be one, nothing to one. think we talked about it before the game and you know, I was kind of feeling a three to one game with an empty net goal at the end, you know, it was definitely, and then by the time you got to the third period, was definitely next goal scores. I think for that entire period. texted you after the second frame and said next goal wins. Yeah. There was just enough solid defensive play that, you know, the light, the, ⁓ goaltenders had a little bit of help. I'm especially dovish. don't think he was tested, especially early on. I don't think he had to make as many 10 bell saves as Vasilevsky did. ⁓ but you know, that's just with the style of play. The lightning had to be desperate in that game. had to pinch and Montreal was doing exactly what you do against a team like that. Once that puck's loose in your own zone and you think you're going to get it, send one of those forwards down. ⁓ I can't count how many times in the second period, um, I felt like a pass, you know, you're watching on TV soon, it's in the full screen and you see a pass lead the Montreal zone. And all of sudden there's just a Montreal forward right at the lightning blue line with the puck. it's a two on one and they had to have three or four odd man rushes in that game. were in that period alone. Before we talk about the goaltenders, I want to talk about the lineup changes because I think they had a pretty big impact in this game. Max Crozier out on defense for the lightning back in the In the lineup was Charles Edward de Stou. In the forward position, Nick Paul must've recovered from his illness. He was back out there for game six. Connor Deke, he was out. First, I want to talk about Nick Paul. Nick Paul was missed in the faceoff circle immensely in game five. In game six, he put a nice, nice effort in the faceoff circle. One 55 % of his draws. Yeah, you know, that's a big thing. A lot of times it's when you win the draws. ⁓ and Paul was out there for a few of the faceoff trials on the power play a couple of them short handed and he's just a big body out there too. I thought he had a really good game in overtime. know, Montreal kind of came out early in that overtime and they were pressing play a little bit. They got the early power play. But after that, I thought Nick Paul and his line mates had a really good shift where they just kind of cycled the puck in the, in the Montreal zone. They didn't really get too many chances, but it was just one of those. It lets the lightning breathe a little bit in overtime kind of settles the crowd down a little bit. And, you know, a few minutes later, it leads to the, you know, gauge of government solid base goal. Paul does little things like that. You know, he played just over 12 minutes, 12 and a half minutes. Um, he was credited. He, the funny thing is he didn't have a shot on goal, but he had four, you know, he had basically four shot attempts and three individual scoring chances. So. It's little things like that. It's keeping the puck down away from the puck. And I thought he had a really good game. thought the Lightning Bottom six actually had a really strong game overall. probably their best contributions. ⁓ The goal regardless, you know, I thought it was their best contribution in the series so far. pretty pivotal point in this game at the end of the first period, Jake Gentzel takes a penalty. It bleeds over into the second period. So Montreal's got a clean sheet of ice. They have their top power play unit out there for almost a full two minutes. Cause I think Gensel took the penalty with roughly 11 seconds. Yeah. 16 seconds, 11 seconds, something like that. Yeah. So that was a crucial moment in this game with Montreal having the power play. Tell us about the penalty kill tonight. I thought they did an excellent job. They did. mean, there were moments where they kind of gave up some chances. Um, but Vasilevsky was there to bail him out, you know, but there was also. A lot of solid kills. thought they did a really good job on that first power play against, but I think there was a chance really early, but then Hagel and Cerelli kind of got into that game where they're pressuring the puck up at the blue line. Got a couple of turnovers where he would clear the puck down, relieved a lot of that pressure. That's a big turning point. mean, you get into that, you know, momentum goal period again. Do you give it up at the last minute of play or do you give it up in the first two minutes of the period? ⁓ and the Lightning avoided it, you know, it's something they couldn't do in game five. couldn't avoid giving up those momentum goals, but you know, tonight they did. They, they answered the bill when they needed to. Yes. A lot of that was Andre Vasilevsky playing out of his mind. ⁓ but still, you know, the players in front of him, when he made the save, they cleared the puck, you know, and that's, that's sometimes gets overlooked when somebody's making, like I said, a 10 belt save, you, you focus on the goaltender, but Hey, that puck is still loose. You still have to get out of the zone or else it's just going to get batted back in. Everyone's going to forget about the, you know, the big first save. Justin, I'm going to say right now you are Martin St. Louis. What is the one thought you have in your mind from this game? You keep doing what you're doing. I think you tell them, look, it took an overtime goal to beat you guys. You guys play really well defensively. You, you limited the chances against for most of the game. ⁓ you're going down to Tampa. You've beaten this team twice down in Tampa in pressure games. You guys can do this. ⁓ I don't think you changed too much. thought the Caulfield line was Suzuki. thought they had a really good game. think Caulfield hit the post twice in this game. So they were generating chances. ⁓ so I think you just say, guys, it is what it is. lost. Both teams played pretty well. You go down. If you play like this, you're going to win, you know, nine out of 10 times. I, and I think honestly would you just tell them it took a super effort from the goaltender to beat you guys. So that's, I think the motivation that you go with. But don't you also think that if you're St. Louis, you're telling yourself, boy, we left a lot of chances out there tonight? It's pretty much the reverse of what Cooper was saying after game five for the Lightning. You had a chance to end this thing or you had a chance to take control of the series and you left it out on the ice. But I don't think Montreal played bad at all. It's not a game where they didn't rise to the moment. I thought they did. And you just ran into a really odd goaltender. Plain and simple. Sometimes you can play as great as you want, but you know, the guy's going to the hall of fame for a reason. And, know, he may not be 24 year old Andre Vasileski, but the old, you know, the big, the big old cat still has a few of these left in him. Um, and I think that's what your message has to be is like you, you play like you did tonight and you can win game seven. Third period, Jake Gensel has a breakaway. Cade and Gulley gets a two minute minor for slashing. Gensel was. Pretty much in all alone. He wanted the penalty shot call. You could see that the Tampa bench wanted the penalty shot call. Should there have been a penalty shot call? It's so close. I didn't think so in the moment and on the replay. I didn't think so. Um, I think it was on Kate and Guli and yeah, he got beat. I mean, it was a turn. It was a great play by Gensel. Honestly, it was, it was kind of funny cause you know, much I've been really pressing right before that moment. I mean, they had a really good shift and then Gainesl gets this turnover. I think Gulley stayed in contact with him enough that it wasn't a clear breakaway. Gainesl also got the shot off. And he got the shot off too. A lot of times when it comes to penalty shots, if you get the shot off, you're not going to get you get a clean chance, yeah, you're not going get the call. Have we seen it go the other way? Yes. But I have no problem with that not being a penalty shot. think Part of the reason the Lightning were begging so much for it be a power shot is our play just hasn't been very successful. You'll take your shot with Jake Gensel one-on-one as opposed to two minutes of torture. That being said, they actually had a really good power play. thought their last two power plays that they had. ⁓ And if you want to talk about bad goals, bad calls, ⁓ that call on them. Well, yeah, got two of them here. So yes, so they're on the power play. You know, there's a play in front of the net, Mike Matheson's trying to knock the puck out of the air. He takes a swing, he clips, brain point up high. No call. It is a discretion call ⁓ on the official's part right there. And they can say, Hey, you know, was a follow through inadvertent follow through. There's a lot similar to the penalty Guetzel took in game one where he's swinging. Like his stick was a lot higher than, than Matheson's was, but it's it's kind of the same concept. Anytime you have a player sitting on your bench, bleeding, stitches, or at least to get patched up and there's no call. It's rough. He's heading to the dentist. He needs some dental work on, the bottom choppers that he has. is our Martha Ray super pollinate. Take it from a big mouth moment because that one's put it this way. No one is going to get that reference unless they're over 45 years old. Exactly. We're going to see who's Martha Ray. But then you go down two minutes later and Demidol's driving the net, you know, He gets pushed by the light and the defenseman into Vasileski a little bit. And they call it alternate interference. I don't see how you make that call as a referee. don't, don't either. With less than five minutes in a tie game and in a elimination game, I understand, Hey, maybe we missed one early, but you gotta, you gotta, especially in a game where they've swallowed the whistle for most of the game. And I thought they, I actually thought the officials had a really good game up until kind of that, that point. ⁓ they were letting them play. was nothing egregious egregious getting missed. I mean, yes, there was an interference here and there, but you know, it's like holding in football. It happens on every play. you know, the only calls were a couple of high sticking, which I think we're up to roughly 317 high sticking calls already this series. ⁓ it seems to be the only thing they're calling other than that and puck over the glass. Justin, I want to stop you there because you're right about the high stickings and it's not just in this series. It's in all the series. Those are the ones that they're calling. But in my mind, those are the easiest calls to make. When you have the officials out there, I want them to call the interferences. I want them to call the cross-checkings. That's what they let go all the time in the playoffs. I think in a lot of ways, that's where the officials are missing. They're missing their mark a little bit because they're calling the easy stuff. The puck over the glass, they should get that 100 % of the time. The high sticks, they should get that almost a hundred percent of the time, but it's the interferences and the cross checks that we see that they're missing. That's what frustrates me is the fail. is, but you know, it's a fine line that they're walking between how many penalties do we call? How much do we interfere? know, influence the flow of a game. And to me, as long as they're calling it, you know, down the middle, like if you're going to let it go for the Canadians and let it go for the lightning. The players can adjust to that style of game. Yes, it slows it down a little bit. And maybe the, the Jake Evans of the world and the Corey Perry's of the world get a little bit more action than they should. It'd be up to the higher skilled players. But if you're calling it down the middle and it's fair on both sides, which I thought tonight was for the most part, I'm okay with it. It is playoff hockey. mean, God, you go back and watch that 2004 Stanley cup and I mean, people are getting murdered out there without a car. So it is still better. It is still better than the free lockout kind of clutch and grab hockey. Doesn't creep in, especially as the playoffs go on. We're going to see even more of it. But I mean, let's face it on the lightning's game winning goal. know, the meal, a little bird gets away with a moving pick. mean, that probably shouldn't have been interference. ⁓ Justin, let's talk about that game winning goal. watched 69 minutes and two seconds of hockey without a puck going across the red line. On that next second, it was Gage who can solve us. Take us back to that goal, but also, and I apologize for stopping you there, but tell us about that interference that happened close to the blue line. So yeah, so something we've talked about in this series, I think you brought it up after game three or four, is Montreal's tendency to, as soon as there's a loose puck in their own zone, to fly forward out of the zone and get them down low. they did it a few times. that home run pass. get that home run pass, get that odd man rush down the ice. They did it, you know, and they had some success with it tonight. And I think that's kind of what's happening. So the pups down, you know, behind the net Montreal plays it away from Gonzalves. It's going up the boards. ⁓ I think Emil Willberg is actually heading off for a line change. So he's heading towards the Lightning bench. Kirby Dock is also skating out. I think he's trying to get out of that zone and set up a long distance pass at home run pass that you talk about. But he also sees that the play is, you know, coming in his direction. He doesn't sell it very well and there's contact as they head to the bench. I don't think Doc makes enough of an effort to get back into the play to draw the official's attention to the point of calling a penalty. But what it does is it frees up Brandon Hagel at the point. So he gets the puck, he corrals it, he has a ton of space. ⁓ He goes, know, kind of head fakes towards the middle net, draws two Canadians out towards him, passes it down low to Dominic James. Now it's a two on one down low. Gonzales is doing a hell of a job in front of the net. to get positioned. Caden Gouley kind of gets stuck in it in no man's land. He's between James and Gonsalves. He's got to make a decision. Do I go out and play James? Or do I try and block the pass? He tries to block the pass. James fits it through. Gonsalves first whack at it gets stopped by Dobish, which is a nice save. But Gonsalves as he's falling though, yeah, I swats it in on the rebound before help can arrive for his Montreal goaltender. It's a great play. It's a great read by Hagel, honestly, because I think there's a temptation there when you have that much space. to put the shot on net, especially with the way the lightening have been struggling to get shots on net, clean shots on net from dangerous places. But he makes the right play there, you know, go and download a Dominic Joe James opens up that two on one and you know, they finally got a pass through the middle. talked about it last year, you know, Montreal has a bit of letting those passes get through. Um, they've been defending the middle of the ice really well, but this one sneaks through, but Salves gets to wax at it back in the net, you know, for a guy who gets a lot of flack from lightning pants. Um, you know, it's kind of surprising how much. You know, people get on consaves because I think he's got a world of talent. Sometimes it just isn't there. I mean, that's a great confidence boosting goal for him. You know, not many people in this world can say they've scored a game winning overtime goal in the NHL. He's got that on his resume now. Well, it's game seven Sunday night, seven o'clock. That's the official time, right? Just in. I haven't double checked that. going to assume that's what it is. Yeah. But I haven't, I just haven't had a chance to take a look from the NHL yet to see if that's. That's what it is. I believe it's going to be Sunday evening, but the lightning record team in team history, they are eight and three in game sevens. They won their last three. I have it in front of me right now. 2022 first round against the Leafs. won two to one. 2021 in the Stanley cup semi-finals, they beat the Islanders one nothing. And then the 2020 Eastern conference finals, they beat those same Islanders two to one in overtime. Justin you have to like the way the lightning are gonna feel coming into this game. They're back home. They've just won game six First of all any lineup changes. Do you see Cooper making I? Mean you got a wonder about Victor Headman, ⁓ you know before the game today. He said he's very close You know he confirmed he wasn't gonna play in game six, but he said he's very close to returning Do you upset the apple cart and bring him in? ⁓ You know, if you bring him in, who goes out, you go 11-7, which I would assume is what they do is if he comes in, cause I don't think you can pull Lilleberg or Destu right now. ⁓ So you probably go down a forward and then what does that do to your defensive rotation? ⁓ That would probably be the only lineup change I could think he makes. ⁓ You know, I wouldn't mind having the two time Stanley Cup winning defenseman, future Hall of Famer, even if he's had a bad year. You know, he's still Victor Edmund. He's going to be up for a big game. So we'll, we'll see what they do. I think that's going to be over the next 48 hours. The big question Mark is Victor Edmund going to play game seven. Does he set himself up for a Steven Stamkos moment? ⁓ All the 2020 in the bubble. Is Stamkos going to play? Is he going to play? He gets in. Man scores the biggest goal in lightning history. Right. So could we see part two with good old Vic Edmund banging one in from the blue line to, to win a game? ⁓ It would be a hell of a story. If he does play and they go 11-7, which forward's coming out? Cause you can't take Nick Paul out because of the faceoff circle. Probably Bjorksran and it would be a shame. Cause I think Bjorksran has played wonderful the last two games. ⁓ he it's been a rough year for the guy. He wasn't brought in to be a fourth line player. He was brought in to be up on that top six and score goals for whatever reason. It just hasn't happened for him. But he hasn't said a word. He hasn't complained. He's gone out and he has put in workman like efforts. ⁓ especially in the playoffs when he's been in, I thought he had a fantastic game today. ⁓ I thought him, Dominic James had a great game. thought, ⁓ Zemgas, Gertonson's had a good game. ⁓ it was the type of game that you want to see out of those bottom six players. ⁓ that being said, I think he's the one who probably comes out of the lineup. ⁓ they had actually moved Corey Perry up to whichever first or second line, however you want to call it. ⁓ you know, he was playing with brain point for a while. So I don't think he comes out and they probably, don't think you can take out all this. He's still sick. ⁓ just cause of his faceoff acumen and Dominic James isn't coming out. think Dominic James has been one of the best players period for the lightning. know, now you got, he's, been good. He's a little pest out there. He makes things happen. And especially with Montreal speed game, I think he definitely won James out there just because he's one of the few bolts who can fly. mean, there were a couple of times. today where he got the puck in the neutral zone, just kind of circle around and said, you know what, I'm going to throw the puck into the zone. I'm going to go get it myself. I'm going to beat both these defensemen to the puck and then I'm going to set something up. And yeah, the light don't have a lot of players who can do that. It's kind of the same thing that the Stu brings into it. He's a guy who can carry the puck from one end of the zone to the other. ⁓ You're looking through some of the micro stats. think the Stu was their biggest puck carrier as far as getting it out of the zone and then into the offensive zone. So, you know, those are things that play against Montreal. That's, that's what you need. Um, so we'll see, I don't see those guys coming out of the lineup. I do think it would be 11-7 and just, just by pure numbers. think it's Yorkshire and that comes out. real quick prediction for game seven. I'm not going to enjoy it. Distressed, you know, I will look for a ticket, you know, but I don't think I'm going to go, I didn't move off of my couch for three. sat in that freaking dark cause you know, I didn't want to get up to to change, turn the light switch on just to move from my spot on the couch today. So, what's your prediction? I think it's going to be a lot like tonight. Um, I think the lightning have to realize that they have to play a little reckless from time to time. I think part of this post Stanley cup team that struggled in the playoffs is from time to time they play too safe. They don't want to get beat on the long plays. And I think you need a little recklessness, controlled chaos, maybe controlled recklessness would be a better way of saying it. But you have to take chances. cannot play safe for 60 minutes a game. The other team is just going to take advantage of it. mean, Montreal, they had a lot of turnovers in this game. The Lightning forced a lot of bad plays and they've done it all series long. It's just the Lightning haven't been able to capitalize when they make these, you know, nice plays in the offensive zone. And Montreal has, it's kind of been the reason we're at seven games right now. The Lightning have done a lot of good things as far as creating turnovers and forcing bad, bad. Puck decisions by the Canadians. They just can't capitalize on it. So I think the Lightning need to play that way. They need to get in deep. They need to pinch in with their defenseman and you know, possibly end up with a four on defense on a two on one and then just pray to God that Andrei Vasilevsky does what Andrei Vasilevsky does. That's how you kind of beat a team that you're slower than and that's what the Lightning are. So I'm actually going to make a prediction. Okay. I'll get you a prediction. Don't worry. I'm just trying to play it out of my head. ⁓ I'm actually gonna say, I'm gonna say three one Lightning and part of the reason is even though they lost game five, I thought that they were the better team with the exception of Dobish. Dobish has played tremendous all series between Vasileski and Dobish. think Dobish has probably been the better of the two goaltenders by a little bit. But that being said, I really liked the way the Lightning have been pushing the play offensively. I think they're getting some depth. And moving the Canadian defenseman back off of the blue line. I think this is just the lightning's time. still felt that even early in this series, the Canadians might be one year away from being that team. I'm saying three, one Tampa. like that. I'm going four, two Tampa. And my bonus prediction for the first time in 22 games, the lightning are going to exit the first period with the lead. ⁓ if you want to, a weird stat. It is a 21 straight game since the lightning have had a lead after the first 20 minutes of hockey. ⁓ I think they come out flying. think we see the energy we saw tonight. ⁓ I think they get a couple early, ⁓ force, you know, Montreal, think if you force Montreal to chase the game, it plays into the lightning's hands. So I'm saying forward to lightning victory. They move on. think it becomes the learning, the loss that teaches Montreal how to win. I think a lot of times these younger teams. As unfortunate it is, you do kind of have to go through a loss before you realize what it takes to win in the, in the, playoffs. I don't think they got that against Washington last year. I think they were kind of just happy to be in the playoffs. Um, this is their first war when it comes to the playoffs. Yeah. I mean, this is a dragging through the trenches, you know, tactical warfare, last team standing wins kind of thing. You know, the Lightning kind of went through it in 2015 in the Stanley Cup against Chicago. I think that built the foundation for what was eventually the two time Stanley cup winning team. So yeah. ⁓ yeah, so I'm going for two Justin before we leave, John Cooper was nominated for the Jack Adams award. He's going up against Lindy rough Buffalo Dan use of Pittsburgh. I think it's probably Lindy roughs trophy. What do think? ⁓ The only way Cooper wins this I think is. It's more of a lifetime achievement award. He finally gets the extra votes because of what he's done over his career and the fact he hasn't won it yet. I do think rough probably gets it just, you know, the, Jack Adams is always what team exceeded their expectations the most. Right. I think Cooper's on a hell of a job this year. Yes, they kind of, you know, faltered after the Olympic break, but just a number of injuries they dealt with early in the season. And the fact that they were bringing these guys up, get them in. I mean, this, you know, we talked about it in one of our early podcasts. Those, those minutes that the student blog that James logged earlier in the season, this is what it's coming out. Yeah. This is where the benefit is. We have to let you get been healthy in November and December. These guys don't get these minutes and it's, I think it's proven important right now. So I think Cooper's done a hell of a job. He's got to win it at some point. I think he's going to finish in third. I really do. think. I think rough is going to be the runaway winner because Buffalo came out of nowhere. You had mentioned it's an improvement award from the year before. And you hate to say this, but people expect the lightning to be good. And even though they did face a ton of injuries, the expectation is that John Cooper has a really good team. The expectation wasn't that Buffalo was even going to make the playoffs, let alone win the division. Two other lightning players have been nominated for awards. Andre Vasileski for the Vesna. The other candidates are Ilya Sorokin, Jeremy Swain and Vasileski wins that running away. think so. know, kind of interesting. The two coaltenders, I don't think got enough love. think Logan Thompson didn't get anywhere near enough love or credit as he deserved for what he did in Washington. And I think it's kind of the opposite of the Jack Adams award. think Washington was kind of expected to be a little bit better this year, but he had a phenomenal season. think like he has better stats than. two, at least two of the three finalists and then the Colorado goaltenders, I just don't think they played enough. They kind of went too much into a split. ⁓ but yeah, I'm kind of surprised Thompson didn't get more votes, but yeah, Vasilevsky I think runs away with that. If Sorokin had closed out the season a little bit stronger, maybe he gives him a case. And if Swainman, know, think Swainman's problem is it just, Boston was just like a good team all season long. You never really. He played really well and he put up good stats, but he was, there was never a stretch of play where he was the best goaltender in the league. think Vasileski and Soroka can both say at some point in the season, they were the best goaltender in the league. And I think that's going to help them with the votes. final award that was announced was the Ted Lindsay award. most outstanding player. had Connor McDavid. have Kucherov. Surprisingly, it wasn't McKinnon. was Macklin Celebrini. Were you a little bit surprised at that? Um, I think it's one of these things. mean, this, you know, it's the most outstanding player is voted by the players by the NHLPA. So, um, I think the Lindsay, sometimes you get some interesting nominations and I think his fellow players realize how important he was to the sharks this year. So it's, it's good to see him. I like it. No slight to Nathan McKinnon. Yeah. I think if you're looking for an MVP or most outstanding player for his team, you backless, LB has to be in the discussion. Um, does he win it? don't. Think so. think it comes down to McDavid or Kuturov. And it's going be interesting to see if what happened towards the end of the regular season with Edmonton going on that role. If that's enough to put McDavid over, over the top, you know, you know, this is one of those words that's voted in the regular season. So the, the Oilers flame out in the playoffs, um, which I believe I said they should be relegated if they lost them the ducks. That's it. See the Devon. Yeah. I know one of us picked the ducks to win that series. Yeah, I think we both kind of did you pick up? I did. Yes, I did. I bet them. Well, there you go. When are we going to get out of that for dinner? So yeah, and you know, if we want to segue into the rest of the playoffs, you know, there's still where we still waiting on. But on floor one tonight, Buffalo one tonight, they've advanced. Yeah. Vegas and Utah are playing right now. You have a set series in Carolina and Philadelphia. They're actually going to face off tomorrow night before some of the game sevens. If we have one in Vegas and Utah. Yeah. So I think, you know, outside of that Anaheim series, which I think, you know, there was some doubt into it. It's gone pretty much according to plan. mean, I know Philly is technically upset, but those teams basically had the same amount of points. I think we knew that a younger team was going to Pittsburgh trouble and then L'Oreal just played out of his mind. So I think things have gone pretty much to plan. know, Carolina is the best team, Colorado is the best team in the West. Now do they end up in the state of the cup final? It's hard to say. And Colorado is going to have a hell of a test on their hands against a Minnesota team that actually realized that they can win in the playoffs. You know, it's a new feeling for them. I, that is their first win in nine playoff series. the one thing, Justin, I wonder if Colorado has had too much time off. You like to get the rest. You like to have that time to get your guys healthy before the next playoff series, but there's something to be said for having a week of rest and being a little rusty, but we'll find out what happens with the avalanche. I think it gives Minnesota a chance to steal one of those games in Colorado, you know, game one or game two, but. I think Colorado's, you know, they're kind of like lightning. There's a lot of veteran experience there that I don't think they're going to let themselves get too blown off the ice. Um, even if they are a little bit rusty, you know, it's going to be interesting what their goaltenders do. You know, think that's the biggest position that's affected by these long layoffs is the netminder. So, you know, they're not seeing game game time action. So you get a couple of paths, whoever's going be in the net format, Wedgwood or whoever the starter is going to be. don't know, but, uh, yeah, it should be an interesting series out there. think that's right now your best second round series. Um, Justin, make, I want to make one point about that series. Wesley Lawrence, when we had him on the last show, we talked about Dallas's power play against Minnesota. They had another power play goal in game six, even though they lost their power play was clicking at almost 40 % for that series. Minnesota is going up against the Colorado team. Surprisingly, as much talent as the Avalanche have their power play has not been good all year. So that could play a little bit into the Wilds advantage. You're good. mean, and then I just think in the playoffs, there's so much that changes from series to series and regular season to playoffs that it's kind of And it's kind of hard to take some of this stuff of what's happened in the regular season and, and, and pull it over. Um, it's just so much change and you play the same team time and time again, and maybe Colorado does something that Minnesota struggles with, you know, on the penalty kill and. And next thing you know, there's, you know, Colorado's at 30 % for the power play. So yeah, it's, it's going to be an interesting matchup. just think there's going to be so much skill on the ice between those two teams. It's going to be fun to watch. Yeah. I don't think it's going to like Carolina Philly is going to be an interesting one. Um, Caroline is going to wax them. This is the worst possible matchup for Philly. Worst possible one. You're going to be putting a lot of pressure on Volinara's shoulders. And I don't know if he can handle it, but I think he got some youth on, on Philly that maybe they, you know, give Carolina some trouble. Carolina is a weird team, man. I think they get in their own heads ⁓ at certain points. And, you know, they were a little banged up at the end of that, you know, even though they swept them, you know, I know Nick Ehlers was, was kind of banged up a little bit. some of that depth. It was a physical series. Yeah. They could be, you know, Philly steals a game here or there and all of sudden. You know, that doubt creeps in the Carolina's head and they start seeing shadows of past playoffs. never know. Justin, tell us what's going on over at raw charge. know you're excited to get that recap out for game six. So we just posted that right before we went on air. we'll break that down. ⁓ we'll spend tomorrow, ⁓ talking about some aspects of the game, probably go over the press conferences as well. What Cooper had to say about the game. What some of players had to say. Look forward to that game seven. Maybe take a look at the history of some of the lightness game sevens in the past. We've had some unlikely heroes, um, received had a take go. Um, Nick Paul does it all against Toronto. Um, so it should always be fun. You know, game sevens are fun. matter what happens, you don't get to see them a lot. And, uh, the city should be pretty entertaining. Uh, on Sunday, it should be a good Good time. Well, everyone sit back, relax and enjoy it Sunday night. It's the bolts and the habs in Tampa. So enjoy the game for Justin Godfrey, who you can read each and every day at raw charge www.rawcharge.com. I'm Jason link is thanks for joining us. Please hit that like and subscribe button and we will be back for our game seven instant reaction on Monday. That podcast will be released on Monday. Go bolts. Good bolts. Thank you for listening to Back Checking the Bolts. 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