Friend of the show and Host of "The Hockey Show" David Dwork joins us to talk Panthers! Last night Anthony Stolarz left the game during the second period ten minutes after a hit to the head... Was it accidental or malicious? David mentions how helpful it is to have Aaron Ekblad back on the ice. Is Niko Mikkola a polar bear on skates?
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00:00let's uh go out to the guest line let's talk to her you don't want to be with a co-worker like
00:04no no no saving her life let's uh go to the toyota of hollywood guest line shop over 2000
00:09toyota's on sale at one location at toyota of hollywood on 441 between hollywood and sheridan
00:14from the hockey news and the hockey show on metalog media with roy bellamy is our guy david
00:19dwark joining us here after the panthers drop game one of their second round series against the
00:25tampa bay hence the toronto maple leafs uh david how are you i'm doing well uh and let me just put
00:32out there if i'm ever choking or in a choking situation i give you all the green light to do
00:37whatever you need to do to save me and i will tell deal with any hr situations after the fact but
00:43please uh save me first all right we'll get to the the controversy that is with this game because
00:48obviously all of canada wants sam bennett put in the uh in prison but uh let's start off with these
00:54with the game and that was man just a very uncharacteristic sluggish slow sloppy start from
01:04the panthers what the hell was that yesterday man that wasn't the panthers uh you know they've
01:10they've earned their spot on top of the mountain playing a certain style and it's kind of become
01:15their bread and butter to see them come out of their game a little bit to see toronto stretch the
01:20ice a bit more to see toronto get high-end chances uh it was a little surprising but look you know
01:25that happens if it happens again in game two and florida can start it starts to become a trend
01:31then that's concerning uh the thing about this panthers team under paul maurice is he's always got
01:36them the ability to snap back into place whether it's to focus on one or two particular things uh you
01:41think back to like last year's playoffs particularly in the final when edmonton seemed to figure something
01:46out and florida was scrambling for three games but you know they take a step back they figure things
01:50out and that was on the grandest of scales so you know we'll see if they can come back and get back
01:54to their game the way they did for the most part there in the third period uh when game two rolls around
01:59but it was yeah it was a little concerning for sure david i'm i'm more concerned with i hate
02:06watching sports and people don't have the facts right um everybody going after sam bennett
02:15and whatever you thought about the hit was fine but if you don't mention that sam bennett hit
02:21without first mentioning guy got hit in the head with an 80 plus mile an hour puck
02:26um are we doing hockey a disservice because now everybody's just gonna pile up on hey he heard our
02:34goal yeah i think if if you're in our situation like if you're not some you know some dude on twitter
02:41um yeah you've got to mention that in the conversation of course i mean we're talking about
02:45a serious injury to a guy's head uh you know he that's what it looks like happened after what
02:49you know the the two shots of the head throwing up on the bench going to the hospital uh it certainly
02:54sounds like it was a serious head injury that stole ours uh may have suffered last night and you've got
02:59to if you're going to talk about the injury you got to talk about everything that happened like if one
03:02of his teammates slapped him in the back of the head as a joke before the game hey that's got to be
03:06talked about too because that that's the course of the evening uh regarding sam bennett i mean
03:11you know look this is a guy who he's known as a playoff antagonist he's known as somebody that will
03:17take take liberties he toes the line that's part of what makes him so valuable to the panthers or any
03:22playoff team uh in this case it sounds like the nhl took a hard look at it and said no we're not going
03:29to do any supplemental discipline the referee was right there watching the play the entire time
03:33granted the referee was watching aaron etklad's forearm shiver to brandon hagel last last round and
03:38didn't call penalty there so you know it's a little subjective but still like in this instance
03:44it's been looked at on the ice it's been looked at dissected video wise for a good 12 hours now
03:49and it sounds like uh that the nhl is gonna say no that's not we're not going to discipline him for
03:54that so hopefully uh at the end of the day stole ours is going to be okay i i don't even want to go
04:00there with a head injury because i have no clue and i know how you know case by case by case they can be
04:05uh but hopefully he's okay and you know just getting back into game two that should be another
04:10reason uh that it should be fun because i would imagine toronto will with the settle things on the
04:14ice well i was going to ask you that because you know you have a special place in your heart for
04:18goalies and stole ours was obviously here we got love for him so like when you watch the play
04:22did you just think it was incidental did you think he was trying to get in the head a little bit
04:27like what did you just make forget about whether it hurt him or not like what did you just make of
04:32what happened there with him with uh with Bennett hitting on stole ours i mean my opinion because
04:39obviously i'm not in sam Bennett's head but my opinion watching that play and seeing and playing
04:43as much hockey as i have in my life i don't think he went out of his way to do it at all i think he
04:49maybe could have done a little bit more to avoid it not that he had any reason to because he was
04:55like he didn't move his arm it was his body's momentum that took him into the crease uh and
05:00could in that moment everything's happening so fast it's so hard to say and i'm not in Bennett's
05:05head i'm you know i'm not there with him it didn't look like there was anything malicious
05:09but if you want to play the super duper cautious game then i suppose something could have been maybe
05:14avoided there but i you know he wasn't looking to take a headshot at anthony stole ours i think the
05:19way that they kind of came together in that moment it's just hard to open because it happened in like
05:24the blink of an eye and it's tight quarters and you're trying to get in front of him and like and the situation
05:30the game too like it's a one goal game the panthers were on the power play i believe or
05:34maybe the power play just ended uh they were moving the puck around well Bennett it was the
05:38second time in like five seconds that he had the puck along the side of the net trying to make that
05:41same play so the second time he's going to do it with a bit more force uh it was yeah i mean it was
05:46just a series of unfortunate events for anthony stole ours uh but malicious i i don't think so
05:52it's one of these things too that like i know that Bennett is a menace i know this i mean he was
05:57this with uh the the two series you know two years ago with the with the leaf so that's why
06:00they hate his ass because he didn't get any discipline that time but i just imagine like
06:04i do think there is some kind of i'm gonna sound like a panthers homer here code amongst their dirty
06:09play like the lightning struck first the last series with going after barkov that's why what
06:15happened happened and they crossed the line because they wanted revenge for their captain
06:19you know even the marshan thing like you're gonna face marshan on the ice it just seems odd to me
06:26like why would sam bennett try and take out stola the panthers don't need to cheat to win so why is
06:32he gonna try and viciously take out uh his former teammate like that it just that one just doesn't
06:38pass the smell test to me yeah i agree uh like to based off the video what we're seeing in the video
06:45and then just knowing the situation and the entire uh you know play out that you just outlined for us
06:50there like it just doesn't make any sense and it's not the panthers it's not how they win like
06:55they they'll toe that line and they'll take things to the nth degree but they don't they're not head
07:01hunting out there they're not out there trying to hurt people uh the hockey playoffs are another
07:05beast and you know things happen i think back to last year like the thing with bennett and marsh and
07:10and you know it it's hard to there's no black and white when it comes to hockey playoffs like it's going
07:15to be physically intense and things happen when you're going that fast in a cardboard box with you
07:22you're just kind of banging off each other like things are going to happen uh i don't want to
07:26sound like i'm just like you know casting it aside what happened last night but it's just
07:30you know things happen in hockey and in that case i don't think there was any intent to hurt someone
07:36so i don't think you know obviously he's going to get a lot of attention paid to it but
07:40to harp on bennett and the hit itself i think that's maybe you know being a bit biased which you
07:47know it's the playoffs everybody's allowed to be biased but i you know i think the league is what
07:51sounds like they're handling it well in my opinion and uh now i'm just anxious to see kind of how it
07:55gets handled on the ice in game too what do you think uh what do you think needs to improve for
08:00them just from a playing standpoint right out of the gate like is it is it a line is it is it one
08:06of the top guys just to make sure they don't get out to such a rudderless start like they did
08:09because they almost came back i mean look there's there's there's props in that but like you put
08:13yourself in such a bind to get down as quick as and as much as they did yeah it was tough in game
08:19one because like the first five minutes they weren't playing poorly in terms of their style
08:23they gave up the funky goal to nylander on the first shift from a sharp angle bob was screened
08:28he probably should have been sealing the post and the ice a bit more but you know they never let
08:32something unfortunate happening at the beginning of the game never impacts this panthers team they
08:36just go back to work they put their heads down they do their thing and usually comes out okay for
08:40them at the end so i i think they just need to get back to doing what they do well uh whether it was
08:44like last night in the third period they just seem to be getting on the balls of their feet
08:47physically aggressive getting pucks in deep not chasing the game and that's just their bread and
08:53butter that's panthers hockey so i think as long as they come out in game two and just play their
08:57style and whatever toronto may do if they score early again just keep doing your thing uh where
09:01they got away from it last night was just they got into too much of a rush game and toronto was getting
09:05into those high danger areas they did such a great job keeping tampa bay out of so as long as they get
09:10back to doing what they do well which they've shown they can do against this toronto team this season
09:14then they should be able to get home with a split david uh when i was watching the hockey game i was
09:20thinking how much of the game in the last two quarters was the panthers turning it around
09:27or how much was it other goalie right like them putting having to go to their backup goalie
09:35and so you think the panthers got maybe a false sense of security with the other goalie being in
09:43the game and not stolers that no there's a lot more improvement that needs to be had instead of
09:49we almost came back it's interesting when in that situation how it can impact the psyche of both teams
09:55in different ways because like the panthers can see stolers come out a guy that's been stoning them
09:59the entire game and say okay now maybe we have a chance our goalie gave up a couple softies maybe now we
10:03can you know get that back to level get a couple on this guy but when when your team when the goalie
10:09changes on your team that kind of emboldens and really bumps up your team like okay this guy's
10:13coming in cold off the bench we got to make sure to take care of him we got to make sure to protect
10:16him so it can kind of pump things up on the other end too and i think that happened for a little while
10:21because until the late in the second and into the third period the panthers weren't really getting
10:25into wall's kitchen too much and then later in the game they really started to get impacting on him
10:29and that's when started the goal started pumping in uh but it's it's tough because especially in
10:35that situation where it's not like a goalie getting pulled for performance it's like the guy was
10:39playing great and then he gets hurt uh so i i'm not surprised by how both teams responded to it and
10:45how it ended up playing out and you know if he ends up being in the net for game two it'll definitely
10:49be something to watch because this is a guy where he's their young like i don't want to say air
10:54apparent guy he's not like in a spencer knight type of situation that was down here but he's a good
10:58young goaltender that they've liked they would like to be their future guy if he can take it
11:02he played actually against the panthers when they played the leafs a couple of playoffs ago he was in
11:05the last two games of that series uh so i i think they had a better chance with stores and net so for
11:12the leaf's sake hopefully he gets back in there but it could be a situation leroy where the team kind
11:16of sees this guy in there and they want to like make sure that they rally around him so yeah we'll see
11:21how it plays out you feel like it's a big boost to get ekblad back like it was a short-lived return
11:26because of obviously all the uh the retribution that he got but he was obviously huge with the
11:31goal to to bring the cats back in that game so what kind of a boost are they getting when he
11:35returns off suspension oh it's huge to get ekblad back i mean we saw during the regular season when
11:40whether he was out with injury whether he was out with the suspension this is a team that plays a
11:43lot better a lot more sound they just look more like themselves when aaron ekblad's on the back
11:48line uh so it's nothing but positives getting ekblad back in there especially you know about coming
11:53back looking to bounce back from from a loss in game one uh having ekblad out there uh the big
11:59thing i think for me with ekblad you know he obviously can stabilize a power play whether it's
12:03number one or number two uh but giving seth jones a little bit of a break when ekblad's not there
12:08seth jones is playing like 26 27 minutes a game with ekblad he can cut back down closer to 22 23 and
12:13those few minutes make a big deal when you're talking about the end of a third period when you're going
12:17hard so uh it's good all around and uh yeah i'm very happy for the panthers to be getting ekblad back
12:22hopefully he stays out there for a while now is that unheard of because i i like they talk about
12:29it all the time and i'm not familiar with you know what's a lot what's ridiculous um in basketball
12:36who was it somebody played 51 minutes i think it was a bridges or something bridges played 51 minutes
12:41and he's never missed a game right like is that what we're that's kind of the same you know thing
12:48we're talking about a guy paying playing 27 26 minutes every night yeah it's it's not unheard of
12:56i think most teams will have like one one guy that they really lean on because with the defenseman like
13:03you're playing every third shift if assuming that you're just rolling three pairings you're playing
13:07every third shift but if you're a high-end defenseman you're playing power play you're
13:11playing penalty kill and that it just racks up and racks up so there are a few unicorns out there and
13:18not unicorn because it's not like they're super unique because they're not matthew but there are
13:21a few guys out there that they will lean on them like that and seth jones when he was in chicago he
13:25was a guy like that ekblad has been a guy like that during his career uh i think now florida makes
13:31a very concentrated effort to to make sure that that doesn't happen on a on a grander scale which
13:36is why you've seen guys you know like in the past brandon montour oliver ekman larson they've always
13:40had really high-end defensemen that they can make sure that they're keeping their guys fresh
13:44uh so i think once ekblad gets back definitely that that'll be something they look to do
13:48and uh can only benefit jones right don't tell him i said this but would you agree with the statement
13:54that niko mikula is a polar bear on skates because they can't seem to control him
13:59and i feel like i feel like they need to take like they need to figure out some way to calm him down
14:04because he's he's a monster and i don't know how you can control a monster but do you agree with
14:11the statement he's a polar bear on skates that's excellent like i'm picturing like giant niko
14:16mikula like fuzzy polar bear niko mikula that's perfect because he's big he's light he's got like
14:23blonde hair he's giant so yeah that works quite well no it's funny like when they signed niko mikula a
14:29couple summers ago we're kind of like you know we didn't like who's this guy we don't really know
14:33who he is he's been around the league for a few years he's got some decent numbers and they told us
14:37he's going to be a perfect fit in our system like we targeted him and holy cow were they right
14:42he's feared around the league like you hear other teams like when marsh and when he got to florida
14:47one of the first things he said he's like yeah now i don't have to worry about getting chased by
14:49mikula all the time like really you don't yeah you don't like did you not see him rubbing that
14:55dude's nose in the ice last series leroy he's he's a menace a little calmed down in the third
15:02period though like that wasn't the time niko yesterday yeah well even he had that hit on the bench
15:07where i think he took a penalty for it where it wasn't even like he was trying he's just so big
15:11and he was taller than the guy that he just kind of ran his arms forward but man that's but that's
15:16what you need like you need the the mikulas the marshans the bennets like as much as they they're
15:22going to you know take things to to the nth degree like that's what you need to succeed in the
15:27playoffs and the panthers went forever without having just getting to the playoffs to have that
15:32success so the fact that they've built the team that they're they're a little feared and they might
15:36toe that line if they cross it every so often like you're not going to condone it you don't want
15:41to encourage it but gosh darn it you're winning stanley cups so i'm i'm not going to complain too
15:47much nobody's out there getting you know nobody's out there head hunting they're they're playing a
15:51very tough plan to play off hockey and niko mikula maybe maybe not as talked about obviously as guys
15:57like sam bennett or matthew kachuk but uh on the ice they've everybody's got an eye on him when he's
16:03out there yeah it was two one filthy that's how we like it and it's just a menace two one filthy
16:12all right buddy uh thanks for stopping by i appreciate you go check out david dork's work
16:17during the playoffs on the hockey news and the hockey show metal arc media with roy bellamy they
16:21do a great job i saw you guys looking dapper for the gentleman's sweep on your latest episode so uh
16:27we appreciate you buddy thank you for stopping by thanks always a pleasure man good to see you guys
16:31bye hockey hornet there's the hockey hornet part of our road to repeat brought to us by our friends
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