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00:00Stanley Cup playoff action live right here on this Tuesday morning on the early line on Sports
00:06Grid with one of the best to do it from the NHL. Pete Jensen joins us live right here on this
00:12Tuesday to recap a Monday night, a double header of action on the ice and set the stage for where
00:18things stand currently in the Stanley Cup postseason. Pete, as always, we appreciate the
00:24time. Thanks for being here on this Tuesday. Of course, guys. And yeah, so many series tied
00:29to the Dallas Stars got a leg up on the Colorado Avalanche last night. I expected that series to
00:36go seven all along. I was a bit more surprised, though, yesterday as it looked like Tampa Bay was
00:43on the cusp of tying the series. Florida scores two goals in 11 seconds. And just like that in the
00:49blink of an eye, it seems like it might be over with Florida up three one in the series. You never
00:54know, though, with those lightning. You never know, Pete. And the Sunshine State battle has been
01:00a good one. But we are seeing some very competitive series out in the Western Conference. And that
01:06included game number five last night in Dallas between the Stars and the Avalanche. In entering
01:13game five, Pete, the Avs were a road ice favorite in Dallas to take a series lead. Once again,
01:19it was the home team in the Stars getting the job done. What impressed you most about Dallas's
01:26performance in the dominant game five win to be one victory away from an opening round playoff series
01:33victory? Well, I mean, you could say it's the eye test or the surface level analysis right here.
01:39But I think for Dallas, it's as simple as they came up with some pep in their step and they came
01:45out to an early lead and they didn't hold back as the game went on. Like they did most of the damage
01:51in the first two periods of that game. But so much of this series, the Avs had been leading for the
01:56entirety of games or out shooting them for large stretches. Like I think back to game three,
02:02when Dallas won in Colorado, the Avs were out playing the Stars for the early portion of that game.
02:09Dallas hung around. Dallas has just been hanging around, taking punches. They're missing a couple
02:14of guys in this series, Jason Robertson and Miro Haskinen, probably two of their best three or four
02:20players on the roster. So major props to what Dallas is doing, weathering the storm. They could still get
02:26one or two of those guys back later in the series. The focus shifts now to the Avs trying to take care of
02:32business in game six. But my goodness, for a team that has struggled sub 500 over the past couple of
02:38post seasons on home ice, Dallas finally stepped up to the plate and delivered in a big way last
02:44night. And it was good to see for everybody that looked at them as a top contender early in the
02:50season and also at the trade deadline after they acquired Mikko Rantanen. Pete, the fight for Florida
02:56certainly has a lot of energy here. Now a three to one series lead here for the Florida Panthers. But
03:01last night was spectacular in so many different ways. You saw the first goal on the board come to the
03:05Florida Panthers for a one to nothing lead. Then you have something that you probably haven't seen
03:09before. Two goals score with 11 within 11 seconds for the Tampa Bay Lightning to give them the lead in
03:15the second period. You fast forward to the third period. Then you add the Florida Panthers here back to back
03:20goals for themselves within 11 seconds here and a win by the Florida Panthers. A crazy night down in
03:26sunrise. I mean, this has really been probably the best rivalry in hockey for the past three or four
03:33years. Remember the Lightning had the early advantage around the time of their championship
03:38years. Then Florida struck back and won the cup last year. Florida has now been to two straight
03:45Stanley Cup finals and they're trying to make it three. They have a great chance to do so here,
03:50especially skating out to this early lead in the series three to one. I mean, look at Florida on paper.
03:56They got Brad Marsh and at the trade deadline. They got Matthew Kachuk back for the beginning of this
04:02series. That was huge. He's already made an impact. And then they got Aaron Eckblad back in game three
04:07and he's had awesome games in game three and four, including a goal in the third period as part of
04:13that amazing flip around of the game. So, you know, I feel like Florida is maybe not as deep as they
04:21were last year, but they're pretty darn close. And you can make an argument that they won the trade
04:26deadline, pretty much getting Seth Jones for some future considerations, of course, but also the
04:33Brad Marsh and trade, they really didn't have to give up anything to get this guy. And he's a bona fide
04:38playoff performer from years past and the president. The Bolts had that two one lead with fewer than four
04:45minutes remaining. And a couple of guys that Pete just mentioned right there, Aaron Eckblad and Seth
04:50Jones score within 11 seconds of one another to give the Panthers the lead. They added some insurance
04:56late for that 4-2 victory in game number four. The first win, Pete, for a team in this opening round
05:02set on home ice. The Panthers take advantage down in sunrise. Now, one win away from advancing to the
05:08second round of the Stanley Cup postseason. And Pete, focusing on the Eastern Conference, where the
05:14reigning Stanley Cup champs in the Panthers reside, we had started to see early on in the opening round of
05:19the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes dominant. They're up 3-1 over the New Jersey
05:24Devils. Start to kind of extend the gap between themselves, their price to win the Stanley Cup,
05:29and everybody else playing in the postseason. Well, with Florida up 3-1 right now over Tampa
05:35and looking pretty darn good themselves, we have seen that gap close in the Eastern Conference.
05:41How competitive do you think that race for the Eastern Conference crown is going to shape up to be?
05:46I think it's going to come down to the winner of that Panthers, Maple Leafs side of the bracket.
05:53And I also think those series are obviously not over yet. You look at a team like the Senators,
05:58they were down 3-0 in the series. They won game four in overtime. That team strikes me as a
06:04possession savvy team that could maybe spring an upset in game five on Tuesday and extend that series.
06:11The Senators, not many people notice. They have the best five-on-five shot attempts percentage in the
06:17entire NHL this postseason. They just lost a couple of close games prior to that game three, game four
06:24triumph. So, you know, don't count out the Senators on the live line in game five and just in general to
06:31win that series and pull off the upset. But again, the Panthers and the Maple Leafs,
06:36if they move on to face each other, the Hurricanes are having a little tough time right now. Some
06:42players are banged up. Freddie Anderson's banged up. They're only at five-on-five tied with the New
06:48Jersey Devils six to six in that series. And the Devils are playing without so many guys, Luke Hughes,
06:53Jack Hughes, the list goes on. So the Hurricanes are probably most likely to finish off this series
06:59in five, I would say. But I don't think they're most likely to come out of the Eastern Conference,
07:04if I'm being honest. It's a really good point, Keith, because we'll see the odds for game five
07:10in Carolina tonight. But it does maybe not as favorable in the Eastern Conference. Pete Jensen
07:17here for another segment. Four games on the ice tonight in the Stanley Cup playoffs, a quadruple
07:23header of action in the NHL's Pete Jensen here on this Tuesday to preview each and every one. Pete,
07:31as we look at where things stand around the Stanley Cup postseason, you said there's a lot of lopsided
07:36series early, some 3-1 series lead. But out in the Western Conference, a lot of competitive
07:42opening round sets. Let's go to our four games that we have tonight. Game five's where things stand.
07:49You highlighted Carolina, maybe the favorites right now to win the Eastern Conference. You're not as
07:54confident making that deep playoff run. But in game five tonight on home ice against the New Jersey
08:00Devils, nearly a $3 puck line or a money line favorite where things are. Pete, will the Hurricanes
08:07knock off New Jersey tonight and clinch this series in five games?
08:11I mean, one thing that you could say about the Hurricanes is they have one of the best,
08:16if not the best, home ice advantages. And I know that that doesn't always matter as much,
08:21say, in hockey as it does in the NBA for whatever reason. But I feel like it matters in Carolina.
08:27And I feel like there's a really good chance they're going to close this out tonight. So,
08:31yeah, I think that Carolina still has that bread and butter possession style,
08:35even when Kachetkov is in net, like he replaced Freddie Anderson the last game and was able to help them
08:42not finish off the Devils, but really put the stranglehold in that series. They have that
08:48possession style, even Shane Goss, this bear Sebastian Ajo, Jackson Blake, the rookie, like they have a number
08:56of different guys that have really excelled in the possession metrics, the shots on goal for versus against.
09:03So I still think that with the Devils a little shorthanded, this is a bit of a mismatch here.
09:10If the Devils were playing another team out there that didn't dominate possession as much as Carolina,
09:16they've actually put up a decent fight and Jacob Markstrom has played well so far in this series
09:20with stopping high danger shots face. But Carolina, I think I had them winning the series in five and
09:27I'll stick with that prediction. I'm going to keep it in the East here because we have a series that's
09:31setting up. That should have been a walk away for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Let one slip away in
09:35overtime. Now the pressure soars it comes back to Toronto in this game because you can extend this
09:40series and then all of those ghosts of the Maple Leafs past start to come to life here. Ottawa and
09:46Toronto tonight, a heavy favorite here at the FanDuel Sportsbook, Pete, for Toronto to win this game.
09:50Are we looking at a closeout situation and will it be closed out tonight for the Maple Leafs?
09:56I think Toronto will close this series out at some point. When is the big question? I could see
10:03anything as crazy as Ottawa wins this game and then wins game six and then we have a
10:07dicey game seven in Toronto's barn and maybe they break through at that point. But yeah,
10:14you look at the Matthews, Marner, Taveras, Nylander era. I think it's like they're one and 12 in their
10:23last 13 games, potential closeout games. So that is not great, especially when I'm talking about,
10:28you know, the shot, shot attempts differential. Look at some of the league leaders this season,
10:34Tim Stutzla in the postseason is second in that category. And then Brady Kachuk is seventh. So they
10:41got two of the top 10 there. I mentioned they were leading in shot attempts percentage as a team
10:46so far this postseason as lopsided as you have in any series so far in Ottawa's favor. But again,
10:53Toronto has excellent goaltending, better than usual with Anthony Stolarz. He's been the X factor
11:00so far in the games that they've won and the coaching with Craig Berube, past Stanley Cup champion.
11:05That's what could finally be different about these Maple Leafs this year. I know we seem to think about
11:10it every year, but those two factors, the goaltending and the coaching is much better than it's been in
11:15years past, in my opinion. Nine? Yeah, nine consecutive playoff appearances for the Leafs,
11:20Pete, in their last eight playoff trips. Just one playoff series victory in those eight years,
11:27trying to make it two in the last nine, where they win tonight in game five up in the six. Pete,
11:33in our other two games that we have tonight in the Western Conference, again, as we have shared,
11:38all four of our opening round sets out west, we have seen the series tied at two games all after
11:43four games. The Golden Knights tonight in Vegas, hefty home ice favor. The Kings tonight in LA,
11:49home ice favoring game number five. Final 45 seconds of this segment, Pete. Will both of the
11:55home teams take the series advantage with a game five win tonight? I mean, it's a tough question.
12:02These series are so tight. I mean, I feel like in some of these series, like the Minnesota series,
12:08I'm very encouraged by what I've seen from Minnesota at five on five. I think that the
12:14Wild are outscoring the Golden Knights 11 to six in the series at five on five. That series,
12:20if it gets low scoring, I worry about Minnesota pulling the upset. The other series, Oilers,
12:26Kings, the more chaotic it gets, the more topsy-turvy it gets, it benefits the Edmonton Oilers without
12:32questioning, especially now that they have Evander Kane back from injury. Pete Jensen,
12:37we appreciate the time greatly. Hour three next.