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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, it's Bob Stauffer. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Oilers Now ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime.
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Chapter 2: What recent NHL updates does Pierre LeBrun provide?
On Oilers Radio, 880 Chad.
I just realized in NHL today I didn't update the Bakersfield Condors or the U18 World Championship going on right now. So apologies for that. I will correct it right now. Team Canada bouncing back after losing to Slovakia at the U18 World Championships. They beat Latvia 6-0 today. And the Bakersfield Condors regular season came to an end. Their playoff run gets going tonight.
They have home ice advantage when they take on the Coachella Valley Firebirds in round one. Royal Pizza, pick up the new spicy vegetarian pizza only for a limited time. For menu and locations, visit royalpizza.ca. Okay, let's get into it. We had Pierre Lebrun on the show. He missed on Wednesday. We replaced him with Bruce Kerlock. Just kind of flipped the two.
And, well, Pierre, one of the most in-tune guys in hockey. There's no doubt about it. He's brought to you by Riverside Honda and Skidoo. It's your dream. Ride it at Riverside. Without further ado. We will head into it right away here. Here is Pierre Lebrun. All right, joined here by TSN and the athletics, Pierre Lebrun. Pierre, thank you so, so much for joining us on Oilers Now.
You're up in Montreal, and I hear the series has been pretty good over there.
Yeah, it's been pretty heated already for two games. The two games in Tampa, game two, bit of a gong show, especially in the first period with everyone's gloves dropping at one point. But, yeah, the series has shifted here to Montreal as we take this. I'm watching on the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Bell Center getting a full practice after traveling yesterday.
And one thing I can tell you is that ā Nikita Kucherov, at least for this practice, has gone back to his normal line mates with Braden Point. You know, at the end of Game 2 in the third period, trying to get some offense, John Cooper had put Kucherov with Anthony Cirelli and Braden Hanger. But the Lions have gone back to normal here, at least on the off day.
Good to hear. Obviously, you talked about the physicality in this series. How has that kind of resulted in the way that these games have played out so far?
Well, I mean, I wrote about this in The Athletic, you know, for those who want to go check it out. It's absolutely fascinating to me what has happened here with the Tampa Bay Lightning. They openly talk about how they feel they got pushed around by their rivals in Florida last year in the first round of playoffs.
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Chapter 3: How has the Tampa Bay Lightning's strategy evolved this season?
I mean, they think they can win this. They think they can go deep. But if they keep playing the way they are now, win or lose, I think they've already made quite a statement. And again, so much of this team is locked up in terms of great contracts under the cap. I mean, honestly, the future for the Habs is phenomenal. But it is a fascinating series, to your point.
If you look at it from 10,000 feet above, like, yes, the Lightning have won multiple Cups. They've been in so many playoff series over the past, you know, 10-plus years under John Kluper. But here's a little interesting thing. They've been knocked out in the first round three years in a row. Mm-hmm. And I know that's frustrating to them.
And obviously, two years ago, we were against Florida, and Florida ended up winning the Cup. But nevertheless, you know, if they were to lose this series, and I think most people would still pick Tampa right now, but if they were to lose this series against Montreal, that would be four years in a row out in the first round.
And I think you'd have to ask yourself, if you're the Lightning, where do we go from here? They don't want to be a team that just makes the playoffs. They want to go back to being a team that goes deep every year. And so that would be really fascinating. And of course, on the flip side, if the Habs were able to pull off the upset here...
I mean, what better way to announce to the NHL that your window is open in a serious manner than knocking out the Tampa Bay Lightning, right? Yeah. So regardless of who wins this series, I think there's some big statements being made here because if Tampa can get through this and get on that long run, then they're able to say, hey, we're back. We're back and we're going for another one.
How do you feel the goaltending has played a factor in this series so far? I mean, both games have gone to overtime, and once you get into that extra frame, you need your goaltender to make one or two saves that he probably shouldn't. Now, the score of the first game, 4-3, and the next one, 3-2. How do you feel the goaltenders have competed in this series so far?
Yeah, I think it's been dead even. It's kind of been a non-discussion. You know, certainly the focus was on Jakub Dobis, to see if the kid can handle the stage. I mean, he's a rookie. He played amazing for the Canadians down the stretch. But he's going up against a guy that's been doing it forever, Andrzej Wasilewski.
And so, certainly on paper, it's a mismatch of a matchup, except that Dobis was... you know, the hotter goalie in the last month of the season, so whatever that may mean or not. But what we've seen so far through two games, because the Lightning have tried to crash Patrice as often as they can, you know, you know, skate behind him after a whistle, do everything they can to sort of agitate him.
And I do think at times it's bothered Bill to some degree, but not in terms of his performance. Once that puck has dropped, he's been really locked in. He's made a number of huge saves here. So Kane's feel really good about what they've seen from him. Because frankly, internally, externally, I think that was something no one could really answer until game one. And so far, so good on that point.
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Chapter 4: What impact does physicality have on playoff series outcomes?
But last night, there were a couple of times where Anaheim defenders met McDavid a full team ahead on the blue line. on his own entry, which is usually not the smartest thing, I think, in general, because you're so scared to get burned by his speed that you usually be kind of back up in a hurry when he's scalloping like the way he is.
But Trouba did it once, so did another defender, I forget who, but... I don't know if that's part of the pre-scout or just absolutely circumstantial, but it was an interesting way to go about it because, yeah, there was a couple times where he tried to get into the zone and he met right there by the thunder. And, boy, I don't know. They may not want to do that again if he sidesteps the next time.
But it seemed to work last night, I guess.
Yeah, and then you think about the other superstar in Edmonton right now, Leon Dreisaitl. I mean, he missed the last 14 games this season, and he's got four points in two playoff games. he's been invaluable to this Oilers group. And him on that line with Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen, it seems like they found a pretty solid click there. Would you agree?
Yeah, I think so. And that's so important because, as you know, over the years, You know, I think Leon's had to sort of pay the bigger price and, you know, more of a rotating gas around them. I don't know if you agree. And so I think that's very important. But, you know, I'm not worried about the team offensively. That's completely secondary to me.
They need saves, and they need a tighter defensive game here. And I guarantee you that's part of the conversation, you know, between Krzysztof Wach and Paul Coffey heading into Game 3. And the Oilers have shown us they can do that in the playoffs in the next couple of years. But until we see it... This could be a wild series. I mean, the Ducks can't seem to hold on to a lead.
And so, you know, they've got a lot of youth on their side. They haven't been on the stage for a long time. But this could be one of the wilder series. And the opening round will sound like a playoff until someone gets a steady hand on a sixer.
Yeah, for sure. I want to shift focus to league-wide now. Obviously, with the postseason here, is there any team that has come out of the regular season here that has really been a shock to you?
I don't know about a shock, but the Philadelphia Flyers are a pretty incredible story. You know, they were down and out. I mean, even people in their organization a month out weren't really thinking we're going to the playoffs. But they got on a crazy run and they got helped obviously by the Metro having some weaknesses. And, you know, Columbus fading big time. The Islanders fading big time.
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