Elliotte Friedman

They're human.

Yes, they are human.

Because Carolina, you could certainly see it on their faces at certain points through the first, I don't know what, 50 minutes of that game, that they looked like they were facing a team that maybe was inhuman.

No matter what they tried, they could not find an answer.

I don't even know where you come up with half of those.

But, you know, and the reason why I think it was relevant and certainly noteworthy for Stahl to say,

say that line that they are human because, I mean, hey, we're certainly wishing all the best for Braden McDowell.

I mean, that was horrifying.

The shot that caught him up high there off Nikolai Ehlers had really no chance of getting out of the way.

But he leaves the game in the first period, Vegas down to five defense, and it was looking very much like one of the all-time great defensive clinics possible.

by Vegas on the road, no less, really, up until Logan Stankhoven, an incredible individual effort to...

Get the first goal to change the feeling in the building and ultimately, you know, flip this game on its head.

Well, I thought that we know Rod Brindamore loves to stick with his lines.

He continues to trust the game plan, but he did make some changes.

And I felt that helped spark Carolina a little bit.

Seth Jarvis alluded to as much in the postgame.

And I don't know.

I mean, maybe this is a little one here, but I'm looking at, you know, Stankoven just before his goal, he actually gets waved out of the faceoff.

And does that set him up?

in the end, in a better position to go track down Rasmus Andersen behind the net to then win the battle, to then get the puck back, and that leads to the first goal for the Hurricanes.