Peter Laviolette

I mean, it was like they just completely erased that game.

They went back to what's made them successful the entire season, which is hard defense, time and space, physical, no room.

Harder to do against a team like Vegas, but that's what I would expect in game two.

He's an experienced coach that's been there.

Like, if you think about it, he's probably coached every situation that is possible.

And I think it was just a smart move to be able to use that timeout, to keep your timeout in your pocket, to get the guys in here, to have them come in, catch a minute.

Feed them some positive information.

Again, it's not a time for panic, especially with that group, but send them in a different direction.

Maybe sell them the one goal, you know, get one goal, get on the board, cut it to two to one.

You know what we do.

You know our identity and just bring them in and just try to change the makeup of the game.

And sometimes for me, a timeout does that.

If you can use the timeout that you actually call a timeout was smart.

He was able to do it just with the stoppage, keep it in his pocket and

Like I said, that goal, I thought just making it 2-1, going in at the end of 1, that was a big deal.

Obviously, it makes it more difficult.

You get down 0-2, you get down 1-3.

If they do win one, they drop two in a row.

It obviously makes it more difficult.

But there's a lot to like about the way Carolina's handled things all year, a lot to like about the way that they played.