Avalanche Win in OT Against Stars; Rangers go up 2-0 on Canes
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00:00We'll be right back with more on that.
00:03But now we have guests and that means Casey Hudson joins us here to start off our number
00:08two live on this Wednesday on the early line.
00:11Casey, thank you so much for taking the time to join us here on the Sports Grid Network.
00:16Of course.
00:17I want to say that I'd help pull off the situation, but with some of the things I get into, it's
00:22only going to heat up for you, Ben, I'm sorry.
00:26On the ice, though, does cool it down.
00:28But with what we saw last night, a doubleheader of Stanley Cup playoff action in both going
00:34to OT, including double overtime in the garden.
00:38Yeah, hockey stays hot, but we start first in Dallas, Colorado down three nothing after
00:45the opening period, Casey against the Stars, and they rally all the way back to force overtime.
00:52And then in the extra session, they steal a victory from the jaws of defeat.
00:57The Avs win game number one of their second round set against Dallas four to three in
01:03OT on the road in Texas.
01:05How did the avalanche even accomplish this feat?
01:09Yeah, they made some major adjustments heading into that second period there.
01:13I think that they were anticipating the Dallas Stars to kind of use their speed and just
01:18like really attack the net, which they did.
01:20They had more shots on goal.
01:22But what they did so well is their screening and taking those quick shots.
01:25They took away your eyes and made sure that they created those scoring chances and they
01:30capitalized on them.
01:31Also, when you get a two-man advantage, you says a lot about your team.
01:35If you get that goal or if you don't get that goal, and that was a huge momentum swing for
01:39Dallas.
01:40But the avalanche are that team that you cannot count out and they've been consistent in having
01:45big third periods and McKinnon showed just that 39 seconds into the third period.
01:50He ties up the game and he makes sure to keep his team in contention.
01:54I think something else is that there's so much scoring depth and opportunity.
01:58If McKinnon isn't getting on the board, if Rantanen isn't pushing the puck forward, we're
02:01seeing the Chushkin having a massive playoff series as well as the end of the regular season.
02:06So the Dallas Stars are going to have to play a lot of 60-minute plus hockey to make sure
02:11that they keep that from happening again and Ottinger can't crumble.
02:14We saw him do that versus the Vegas Golden Knights last year and we all know how that
02:17played out.
02:18The avalanche are a tough team to keep out of any contention.
02:23Okay, so the Stars, no strangers, I should say, in the playoffs here to losing at home.
02:27But you take a look at a 3-0 first period lead at home in game number one.
02:31Talk about going into game number two and how devastating a loss that actually is because
02:36even from a fan perspective, you're sitting in the arena, the party's going right now,
02:393-0, we easily won this.
02:40Can't wait for game number two and you find yourself with an overtime loss.
02:44How do they bounce back in game number two for the Stars?
02:47Yeah, they have to do the same thing that they did when they needed to bounce back too
02:50deep from the Vegas Golden Knights in the first series.
02:53They have got to make sure that they stick to their game.
02:55They've got to make sure that they protect Ottinger to keep him confident between the
02:59pipes and defense was the most questionable thing for the Dallas Stars heading into the
03:03playoffs period.
03:04While they have offensive power, while they've got such scoring depth, while they've got
03:08Wyatt Johnson, who's just this spectacular 20-year-old collecting points for them, their
03:13defensive structure was probably like minutely behind everybody else and they did some really
03:19good things in their D zone, but they also could not manage the avalanche of speed.
03:23So for them, it's just going to be coming out and being an offensive force, alleviating
03:28their defense there.
03:29And they were able to do that.
03:30They cycle the puck, they use their speed, they make sure to keep it in the ozone.
03:34And I think that they can put up a good fight versus the avalanche.
03:37The hard part is how well the avalanche can kind of match that tempo.
03:41While Giorgio had some fantastic plays yesterday, I still do not trust him as much as Ottinger.
03:46I think Ottinger probably takes a game or two to kind of get in the swing of things.
03:49So I've seen this game, this series going to seven.
03:52I think that if last night proved just that, that we'll see it going to seven, but the
03:56Stars have everything possible.
03:57Jamie Benn stepped up tremendously for his team.
04:00Tyler Sagan's been playing crazy.
04:02Robertson is a fantastic two-way player.
04:04He's not blocking shots.
04:05He's pushing the puck forward and contributing offensively.
04:08So they've got all the makings to jump back in.
04:10I think it was just that feel-out game at home.
04:12And maybe they need the guy with the sign on the glass saying,
04:15bang again, so that they can start pushing out these big wins.
04:20Game one total goes over six and a half because of overtime.
04:24First time for the Avs, and now there's six playoff games.
04:28They didn't score at least five goals.
04:30They do score four and get a win.
04:32The avalanche now a minus 215 series outright favorite,
04:36despite being a game two underdog in Dallas.
04:40Tomorrow night, now we get to the thriller that really started the evening
04:43inside Madison Square Garden.
04:45We needed two overtimes and nearly 90 minutes of game action alone.
04:52But the story is the same at the end.
04:54The Rangers defend home ice and they take a 2-0 series lead in the garden
04:59against the Carolina Hurricanes.
05:02Four to three, the victory for New York.
05:04Vincent Trocek nets the game winner in that second OT.
05:08Casey, how great of a game did we see last night inside the garden?
05:12Yeah, that was a fantastic game.
05:14Anyone who got to be present for that, congratulations.
05:17You're seeing two teams that kind of line up so well statistically battling it out,
05:22but the Rangers are proving to be more efficient with their chances.
05:25They have one less scoring chance than the Hurricanes,
05:29and they capitalize on every moment.
05:30Not to mention is that heading into this series,
05:33we talked about how crucial special teams was going to be.
05:36Hurricanes not capitalizing on their special team moments.
05:39The New York Rangers continue to capitalize on their special team moments.
05:43So if you look at the closeness of a lot of this game,
05:45you see the difference maker being two key power play opportunities,
05:48obviously power play closing the door on game number two.
05:52So this is going to be hard for Carolina to crawl out of
05:55because they're getting the scoring chances.
05:56They're getting the shots off.
05:57Shesterkin's just the better goaltender right now,
06:00and you can't really change much about that.
06:02He's facing a lot of high danger opportunities
06:04and shutting it down without blinking an eye.
06:06And the New York Rangers make minor adjustments
06:08as into stepping up their physicality, staying out of the box.
06:11I think they had two less penalties yesterday than the Hurricanes did.
06:15And the Hurricanes, while they're playing pretty disciplined,
06:17the calls are just not going their way.
06:19The bounces are not going their way.
06:21They're going to have to get some other guys involved.
06:23Gensel's victory at Ajo was tremendous last night,
06:25but their defense is going to have to do what they've done all season long.
06:29Get active and offensively and help out their forwards
06:32to get those shots past Shesterkin.