(upbeat music) - And we're back on Canuck Central, Dan Reachow, Satyar Shah, here in the mobile Kintec Studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So far feet, what are you waiting for? Canuck Central is for Enzahn Pacific, Vancouver's premier Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Jeep Superstore on 2nd Avenue between Canby and Maine, or at Enzahn Pacific Chrysler.ca. Landon Ferraro is going to join us, continue to be a weekly analyst for us here during the course of the playoff. So we'll get his take on how this series continues to progress and what we could see in game five. Quickly, let's get to the Canuck Central Roundup. It's Calvin Pickard starting for the Oilers, as mentioned in the previous segment with Big Nezar in the round table. Demko continues to progress, though he did not take part in Maine Canuck's skate today. And it's kind of ongoing speculation around Thatcher, Demko, Sat, when or if you'll be ready to come back at some point in this series. - Yeah, and we'll see. I still would be surprised to see him in game six. Maybe all bets are off if you get to a game seven. - Yeah. - If you're in that situation, perhaps. I still think more likely, probably, if the Canucks get past that Minton. - Yeah. - But the way they're talking about it, I would not dismiss him as a possibility in game seven, if necessary. - There was a couple of reports around Jeremy Colleton this morning and his status as the coach of the Abbotsford Canucks. I know Murph mentioned and reported on Twitter that a two-year contract had been put out to Jeremy Colleton from the Canucks, but it has not been accepted. And it doesn't mean he will not return, but as of right now, I guess, we could call it in negotiations. - Yeah, I guess it depends on what Colleton is looking for. He's also a guy that was a former NHL head coach, who probably has aspirations of getting back there as well. So what is he looking for opportunity-wise? Does he want to be a head coach at the NHL level? Does he want to go to be an assistant at the NHL level? Does he have an outside chance at a head coaching job? Those sort of things. I mean, especially this early in the off season with a lot of possibilities still up in the air. - There's still a lot of openings around the league, too. - Yeah. And I'm not saying he's going to get a head coaching job in the NHL, but there are opportunities of possibilities. So maybe he doesn't want to lock into something. Like, I don't know what's going on in his situation, but I don't have any reason to doubt what Murph said. So clearly the Canucks put something in front of him, but I also think the Canucks are an organization that don't like sitting around too long. - Yeah. - And that if that's not going to work out, I'm sure they have a few people in mind. I know there's a few people that used to work with them with the Penguins organization that have come free as well. So I wouldn't be shocked to see something along those lines if something would call it and doesn't get worked out. - They've always been very complimentary of the work Colton has done with Abbotsford. I mean, even earlier in these playoff, when Tockett mentioned why he chose Lina's Carlson to come in. It was in large part to some of the reports he got from the Abbotsford coaching staff as to why they decided to go with Carlson. And in his first game, he played and performed pretty well. As of the healthy scratches, McKay of Lafferty Carlson coming out. I got a lot of tweets about this, so I just wanted to address it. Is McKay of a buyout candidate this summer given his $4.75 million contract being on the sidelines in a playoff game? - No, just see my face right now. I'm just like, I don't see it. I mean, they already have some dead cap on a buyout to begin with. I don't think they want to add more. And I think as bad as McKay of has been, there is bounce back potential, given what he's kept coming back from injury wise, right? And I don't think we're seeing the best version of him at all. And I think it would be early to punt on him. I thought his first year in Vancouver, he was good. He got it, he was hurt, but look at the numbers, look how he played, he was good. We haven't seen the best version of McKay of at all, yet either. And it was hard for him to have his best version this year when you spend all off season recovering from an ACL surgery. And then you weren't even ready for game one. It took a few games for you to get back in. Like, I just think you haven't seen the best version of him and for you to buy him out, it's too soon. Now, I think he deserves to be scratched tonight. There's no doubt. But in terms of what he can be next season, I actually even think he has some level of trade value. Now, I'm not saying you're getting a ton back, or I'm not saying you can necessarily dump the whole contract, but I think if you want to move McKay of the summer, I think you can. I don't think it's one of those situations where the Canucks are tied to him and screwed, and they have to buy him out. I don't think it's at that level at all. - The idea that McKay of his washed just isn't in my psyche, really, I can't get there with people. I understand he's scored one goal since Christmas, and it hasn't been good enough. But he did have 10 goals before Christmas. There was some signs there. I think there's been signs of the burst at moments still being there. It just hasn't been sustained. I think it would be premature to let him go without a full-off season to really work on his game compared to, as you mentioned, just having to recover from the surgery like he did last summer. - Yeah. - So that's where my stance would be, but I wanted to bring it up because I know a lot of our listeners were thinking about it and pondering the idea. - Yeah, I mean, it's being brought up. I'm with you on it. And I actually think, as much as he's struggled now, right now, I still think McKay of when he's at his best, he's a good panel of the killers, a good two-way forward that can play on the top six, and he can score a little bit for you. And with the size and speed combination and defensive ability, it's a rare profile. Those players are usually coveted because they're hard to find. It's just been unfortunate that the Canucks have not seen anywhere near McKay of his best version yet, and he's struggling so much this season. - And just, you know, unfortunately, the way that his whole Vancouver career has played out, being injured in the way that he was, and essentially his first preseason game, and then playing through a torn ACL up until basically the all-star break last year. Tough circumstances for you, Ilya McKay of, but here we are, and I don't think a buyout is necessarily an option for Ilya McKay of come this off season. Now, I want to get to the Let's Go PD thing with Alfred and Bruff, and we will, in just a moment. I know our listeners are excited to be a part of that chant tonight, but there's another player, and I guess, contract that I kind of want to talk about a little bit sat. For as much of the focus that has been on Ilya's Pedersen as somebody that needs to step his game up in this series for the Vancouver Canucks. I'm looking at Phillip Ronik, 48 points in 81 games played this year, and we get to the playoffs, and he's got pretty much nothing but zeros next to his name. 10 games, he's a minus one, has taken six penalty minutes, has just seven shots on goal, even though he's averaging 21 plus minutes a night in the 10 games of the playoffs. I get it, there's probably an injury here at the same time. The Canucks, I think, simply just need more from this player. Tyler Myers has been brilliant in these playoffs, he's been great in the Canucks best. Fencement, they need to be a little bit. - Yeah, the only question with him is how much better can he be? He looks like a guy who's bothered by something. I know we talked about that with Pedersen as well, as something hindering him or not. It's harder to pin down, but one thing that is easier to pin down for us, I think when you watch Phillip Ronik, is how often do you see him not be able to play a puck, cleanly? - Yeah. - And if he has an elbow issue, for instance, how much is that hindering his performance? 'Cause he's usually pretty clean with the puck, and he hasn't been clean with the puck. And to me, I don't think that's a confidence thing, or he's regressing as a player thing, it means something's not right. We're not sure what Pedersen is dealing with if it is something that's hindering him, so it's hard to be specific about what you're seeing. We know he's not shooting the puck as much, so could it be a risk thing? Like, we don't know, right? But whereas with, I think with Ronik, I think we know it's a bit of an elbow issue that he's dealing with, and it's pretty evident, like he's barely holding on to pucks the blue line half the time. You know what I mean? Like, I just don't see a player right now that's anywhere near effective enough for the level of play that we've seen from him in the regular season. - Well, and he's not windy, he's not even trying to wind up for his last shot. And so I wonder if, you know, whatever is ailing him is playing a factor into that as well. It's been frustrating to watch. And look, I know you're in the playoffs, you're gutting it out, you're still giving the team a bottom line on the defensive end of the eye, so that is commendable. But it feels as though Quinn Hughes needs a little bit more as a running mate, because he's been targeted as much as he has. And while, like part of the storyline in this series has gone from, well, or at least in Edmonton circles, like Bouchard is clearly out playing Quinn Hughes in this series. And it's, I mean, he's outperformed him. He's had some big goals, scored two game winners already in this series. So that's big on Evan Bouchard's part. He's had a big factor into the two wins that Edmonton has had. He's also playing with Mathias Ekel, and who's one of the best defensive defense men where you can a guy that is about as perfect a partner as you could possibly find for Evan Bouchard. I don't think Quinn Hughes is getting that same level of help. I also think if you wanna play Quinn Hughes more, can you do that with the situation that is currently hindering Philopronics play? - Yeah, and I think that's a fair question. And that's one of the things I kinda wonder about is, as much as we talk about play Quinn Hughes a lot more, especially with how Susie has played with Myers, and they're gonna be back together for game number five. I don't know if the coaches wanna get away from that too much. And we know that as good as Myers has been, when you play him 23, 24 minutes, that's when you see his game really start showing signs of deterioration, and that's what you don't wanna see happen with him. So I think you're kind of in a tough spot, unless you feel like Corona can handle more minutes, how do you give Quinn Hughes say 27, 28? - Yeah, and I wouldn't mind seeing that at times, and we know Quinn may not be 100% either, but it's the playoffs, that's just the way it is. But I'm just not sure if we're going to see the version of Philopronic, I think we all wanna see, and we saw, especially in the first half of the season. - Well, it's hard to imagine, like if you're on the brink, or, you know, as I've said, tonight's about as close to a must win as you can possibly have. I'd rather not, you know, have to win two in a row against two of the greatest playoff performers of all time than Conor McDavid and Leon Drysidal in order to win this series. But it's hard to go down in a series without running your top guys hot. And by that, I mean, having Quinn Hughes play 27, 28 minutes. I mean, we've seen Nablock do it pretty much every coach does it most of the time. When they're down, when you're almost out, you run your guys as hot as you can, put them out there every second shift. - And I just, we haven't seen that yet with Quinn Hughes. And I wonder if we do. - Yeah, and the thing too though is, Edmonton also does it out of necessity. I mean, you look at their second two pairs, you can't rely on them, whereas with the Canucks, like Susie and Myers are winning their match-ups. - Yeah. - And even Cole, like a good, look how good Zudorov's been. So how many of his minutes do you want to win? - Well, winning their match-ups in what sense, like they're holding a lot of pressure, they're scoring more goals when they're on the ice. But, you know, they are still stuck in their own end quite a bit. - I mean, but they're going up against McDavid and Drycidal. What are you expecting? Do you expect them not to spend time in their own zone? Like, like what are we talking about here? - But the thing is the only, the only defenseman that was able to like, well, the Canucks outshot their opponent. Outshot the Oilers the other night with Hughes on the ice, every other pair got hemmed in, essentially. - But as again, it's like, if you're, if you're doing that for, if you're giving him more minutes. - Yeah. - Does it take away from the effectiveness? - And that's the thing, right? And also with, when you consider who his teammate is right now with Ronik and how he's playing, you saw like Evander Kane, how he bodied him on that game winning goal too. So it's like, is he able to handle that physical play anyways right now and win that enough, right? So I just don't know if you can trust it, especially with how good in their own zone, Myers has been with Suzy so far. - It's been a tough goal for Ronik. And I do a conversation more to dive deeper into in the offseason whenever that does come. But I do wonder how much it has affected what the numbers will be or where they were trending for Philip Ronik when it came to negotiations for his next deal with the Vancouver Canucks or potentially somebody else. It's Dan Richo and Sati Arshah. It's been the talk of the town, Howford and Bruff with a big call this morning on Sportsnet 650 and they're looking for some fans help as they come down to Rogers Arena. Here's what they were saying on Howford and Bruff in the morning. - Okay guys, let's get some energy here and this is what it's gonna be like. Let's go P.D. (clapping) Let's go P.D. Okay, you guys are gonna need to chant too. You can't just clap along, right? Let's go P.D. There we go. Okay guys, like this needs to happen. We've given the example for the fans. They can follow this. Let's get this going. Think about what that would do for the reputation too of Canucks fans. There's a lot of people talking about how brutal Canucks fans are. There were a lot of people talking about how brutal Phillies fans were. Philadelphia sports fans in general. We have the potential to learn from Philadelphia in this situation. - Yeah, we've been said before. - And again, if it doesn't work, we got like, you know, we got nothing to lose from this. - Can you imagine the story? If before the game tonight, the chance start, let's go P.D. in the warmup. They carry on to the National Anthem, right? Only one anthem before you're hearing, let's go P.D. It's ringing out through the building. Imagine that. Okay, we have the ability to make this happen. So all the listeners that are listening right now, use your social media, go on to Reddit. A-dog, I know you're a Redditor. - I don't know if he admits this in public though. - That has to turn it over to David. No, nothing spoilers, 15 seconds in. - Oh God, this is a backlight again. - Talk it makes him a healthy scratch. - The smith is like, "Well, well, well, I know what it feels." The hashtag will be #LGP. Let's go P.D. Okay, and we'll just, and we'll get it out there. We'll try, we'll ask, I'll post the video right now. - We'll ask the rest of the shows, we're probably gonna be airing the J's game after this, we'll ask the rest of the shows, we'll try and get it going. - And I think that's us, that we are the rest of the shows, or one of the rest of the shows to try and get it going. I know some of our listeners, maybe some on board, others are saying, "No, boo, P.D., he hasn't did anything this year." - Right, I can understand both sides of the spectrum. - Why, no, I can't understand. Why would you boo a player in game five of the second round of the post season? Like how entitled are you? - Some fans are ruthless. - What do you mean ruthless? - Bruins fans booing their team off the ice after a bad first period. - Yeah, sure, boo them off the ice, but the game has a start, you wanna say booing the guy with zero zero game five. - That would not be fair. - No, it's stupid. Don't boo the guy. - But yeah, I mean, why not chant for me? That happens in soccer all the time. - Well, I would say that the fans at Roger's Arena have been really good this season. And even in the playoffs, like if there's been some tough moments, if they've had some bad games, bad stretches, they would start a go Canucks go-chan, try to pick them up even after a goal against, rather than maybe get down in their chairs, become a bit of a morgue. Oh man, we're losing in this game, try to pick them up. And this is the situation with Elias Petterson right now. It's a family member, a friend down on their luck, you're trying to pick them up a little bit, I guess. - Yeah, I mean, I don't see any problem with it. I know people will talk about it, like somebody saying it's gonna be embarrassing for people, like why would it be embarrassing? People chanting your name? - Well, people are saying it would be a pity chant. - You're picking a guy up, like what's so wrong with it? I think people are overthinking this. Way overthinking, you chanting for a player, you're trying to give him energy, right? - Trying to give him energy, trying to pick him up. It worked for Trey Turner last year, so we'll see if it works for Elias Petterson tonight. Coming up, he's joined us throughout the course of the postseason, Landon Ferraro, bringing us his analysis of the Canucks and Euler series to this point. What do you expect to see tonight? That's coming up next on Canucks Central. - That was not a white ball. (upbeat music) - We're back on Canucks Central Dan Reacho and Satyar Shah. A lot still to get into. We're in the mobile Kintec studio. Here at Rogers Arena, the white towels are on the seats and the buzzers just gone for absolutely no reason as they get ready for the game, which we'll start after seven o'clock tonight. Quickly before we get to our next guest, Landon Ferraro, let's get in a goal horn here. (upbeat music) The Carolina Hurricanes trying to do the unthinkable come back from a 3-0 series deficit. They've already won two. And here in game six, they have the upper hand on the New York Rangers, one nothing thanks to Martin Nietzsche's with his fourth of the season of the postseason, I should say. And that's made it one nothing at the end of one for Carolina over New York. The goal horn is brought to you by Rewind Bierco find their big West Coast IPA at a liquor store near you and celebrate big plays in a big way. Let's bring in our next guest. It is Landon Ferraro, former NHLer and been an analyst here for us here during the course of the postseason. Thanks for this Landon, how are you? - I'm doing good, how are you guys doing? - We're doing pretty well. It feels like there might be a little bit of nervous energy here in the crowd at Rogers Arena. I mean, this is a pretty decisive game five, right? Yeah, you're two two with the Oilers, but the way I look at it, and I know my co-host doesn't necessarily agree with me, but I think you're just, you're going to want to have two chances to eliminate Conor McDavid and Leon Dreyseidel, because you know if you put them on the brink, the Oilers are gonna do pretty much everything to make sure that it's, they don't go down without a fight and those guys will play a lot. - Yeah, for sure. I mean, of course it's not the end of the series if they lose tonight, but I think you're 100% right. Like, if you can get two chances of trying to get the job done, it's gonna be a heck of a lot easier than just one. And McDavid, especially in an elimination game, is not something I want to do, having to do it twice. Like it's too much to ask, and with how close the series has been, like even last game where it wasn't their best by any means, but you won't find their way, find a way to be in it again and right there at the end, but like you can't keep playing with fire. Like when you have those opportunities, you can't give a team that has fire power like Edmonton does, any extra chance or any extra luck. - Yeah, and I think what we haven't seen for Vancouver so far is their best punch. And the thing I don't think you want to see happen when these playoffs end and it's been fantastic for the Canucks to even get to this point, right? Given what the expectations were this season, they've won around, they're sitting here tied, heading into game five in this series with a chance to even head into the conference final, but you don't want these playoffs to end and us sit here and talk about how we didn't see the best from the Canucks. And I think it's hard to say we've seen the best from them when we haven't seen the best from Elias Patterson. And the question just is, can we see that here at some point before this series ends? - Yeah, well, I mean, as much as we don't want to be sitting here after the playoffs and talking about what could have been done and who could have done a bit more, like the guys sitting in the dressing room are thinking that night and day. Like whether they're having a playoff that they're happy with so far or they think they can do more, it is all you're thinking about right now. Like it's a different time of year for a player in the sense of like everything else kind of fades away. I never had, you know, I had my first kid this past year, but I never had one while I was playing. But everything else kind of pushed away and just your focus was on one thing and it becomes all-insuming. So like they're thinking about that too, right? So like they want to be able to put their best foot forward. But like you said, like there's being happy with what expectations were at the beginning of the season, but you know, they've now won the first series. They're into the second end showing that they can do it. Like those guys don't care what the expectations were that we put on them at the beginning of the season. They're in the fight and they feel they have a chance and they're right, they do have a chance, but they need those guys to get moving. And you know, we talk about it, you know, I talk about it every week when we come on here and I know you guys are talking about it every day with Pedersen, the only thing that I didn't like most, not that you need a ton of examples right now to know that he's struggling. But the thing that bugged me a little last game was at the end, after the, you know, Bouchard scores, you know, he gets the puck on the left wing going into the zone, there's both 25 seconds left, it gets down into the corner, there's now a stalled puck. And he pokes out at once and then he backs right out of the battle. There's like 15 seconds left in the game, you're down one goal. And that's not because he's scared or anything like that. To me, that's someone that's now hoping that that puck just squirts out and they can make a play. Like, you know, there's the, you know, the famous line out of Shawshank Redemption, Red says of, you know, hopes a dangerous thing. Like Pedersen can't be sitting on the outside of battles and hoping the puck comes to him. You know, at the beginning of the year, everyone had talked about how they wanted him to reel it in a little bit 'cause he was running around trying to hit everyone. Like, he needs to find that happy medium. And, you know, with shaking up the lines a little tonight, I think that could be something that could really help him out here. - Yeah, there's an element of you gotta create your own luck and I know, you know, Rick Talkett alluded to McKave and Lafferty not being the best line mates for early as Pedersen in the last game. And as you mentioned, we're gonna see him play with Lindholm and Hoglander at least to start tonight. And it looks like he'll play on the wing. And I'm sure, you know, him and Lindholm will kind of have a hybrid thing going on. But, you know, is there a mindset that needs to, that changes when you're used to playing center? And now you're starting off, a lot of shifts playing off on the wing? - I mean, honestly, like I always loved, like I grew up a center and moved to wing as I got the pro and it just became a little easier at my size. But I always liked, once I figured out how to play wing, I liked getting moved out because I didn't have as much responsibility. You know, you don't have to be the low guy in the D zone all the time. Like you're allowed to be up in the play a bit more and it just, it kinda lessens your load a little bit. So I think that could be huge for him. You know, it opens a bit up. And when you're playing with, you know, on a line with two centers on it, the easiest thing to do is, and I'm sure they've had this two second conversation of, hey, whoever's back there first, just stay. Don't worry about switching, like I trust you, you trust me down there, we're fine, right? So whoever's back, you stay and once we get back out or there's an easy switch out, just make it. But, you know, that's the beauty of two centers. You don't have to force anything because, you know, there are wingers that they get down low and everything starts moving faster for them out of the corner. So it's just not comfortable with it. - Well, you know, going back to what you mentioned about waiting and hoping, and it's one of those things that, I mean, obviously, you know, we haven't played at the level that you guys have played at, but just like anything else, like, for instance, when I go play golf sometimes and when my swing's going terrible, sometimes I'm just like, you know what, I'm not thinking about the, about what my swing mechanics look like, I'm just gonna hit it. And hopefully this time a ball will go where it needs to go, but I'm not doing what I need to do to ensure that I'm getting the player that I want, but you're frustrated and you just kind of hope that something goes your way. And when you get to that point, does it start affecting your mechanics as well? And just your overall way of the way you're thinking of the game? - For sure, you know, like I always found, you know, personally that when I'd be in a slump, I would start trying to do what Patterson is doing. Now where you kind of, you're trying to like, okay, if I get myself into this spot, well, maybe it pops out, now I got a good scoring chance. If I put myself here, like, you're trying to overthink a game that you're never gonna be smart enough to overthink, because the puck's gonna take random bounces, guys are gonna do things you can't predict, it is what it is. The easiest way to get yourself back into it is just focus on like a couple things that you do well, that you know, okay, if I do this, if I focus on these two or three things, my game has to be solid, because there is only one way to make that work, right? So whether that's skating or winning every board battle or whatever it may be that he feels he can pull some confidence out of, like, he needs to do that. So at least if the puck doesn't go in, he knows that he's helped the team as best as he possibly can, and that goes for everyone. - You know, so much of the discussion after Game 4 was how well Edmonton played, obviously, and I know they just squeaked it out at the end, but they controlled for much of the first 40 minutes. But the Canucks were still able to lean on them a little bit there in the third, and once you start to do that, you see where the defensive cracks open up a little bit on Edmonton side of things. It really feels like if the Canucks are able to have a little bit more possession and put the Oilers on their heels a little bit more, that's where they'll be able to expose some of the issues Edmonton has defensively. - Yeah, and I mean, you saw it in a different way, but you saw it in the Nashville series as well, right? Like as the series went along, things clamped down more, and for a lot of the play, like I felt Nashville was carrying it, but Canucks just kind of kept holding on, holding on and pushing, and then they take over. And they've kind of done the exact same with Edmonton here, where it's now not saying, like, oh, they're just holding on. It's like, it's almost like they're rope-adoping at this point, like they let those guys skate around a million miles an hour for two periods, and then they put everything they have into the third again. Like it would be nice if they could get moving a little earlier, but at the same time, like they're getting their chances, and they're, when you're playing against a team that is all puck possession, and they have the puck the majority of time, well, one thing that definitely leaves is they don't play defense very often. So when you finally start getting them hemmed in, and the Canucks have had some decent zone time as the games go along, that the longer you make someone that doesn't play in the D zone very often play, he's gonna make a mistake somewhere, and then that's where you gotta be able to capitalize on it. - Well, and they are facing Calvin Pickard, who obviously didn't more than enough for them to win game number four and only allowed two goals, but I think he even himself admitted that the Canucks didn't test him enough, and it's easy to say, hey, put more shots on net, but it's one of those things that just can't let a player like him, who's a journeyman, third string goalie, who's had a good year, really get through this game without facing a lot of quality looks tonight. - 100%, right? Like he's been around for a long time, like I played against him in junior, and it's almost like he's playing his first NHL game again. Like I would imagine the feeling of him coming into that game after all these years, his first playoff game, like it would be the same excitement and nerves as your first game when you first go out. And I couldn't even imagine as a goalie, 'cause I know what I felt like in my first game, like I was so excited, my hands are bouncing all over the place, like you're just buzzing with excitement, but as a goalie, you gotta calm that down, or you're gonna be bouncing out rebounds, but like you said, like they didn't test them, like the first 10 minutes, and it should be the same tonight, like every little thing should be thrown at the net. You get close to the blue line, and there is pressure that's going off. Instead of throwing it down to the corner, at the beginning, let's just start hammering it off his pads. You're gonna be able to react to the rebound off his pad quicker than the D that has to pivot and turn and get back to the net and find where the rebound went anyway. So that's a way you're gonna get recoveries, you're gonna get their D turning, and you're also gonna be accomplishing pucks on net, right? Like they need to start feeding more and more. - Yeah, and I think one place that the Canucks can maybe at least put some more pressure on the Oilers is on the power play. Now they have scored some power play goals in this series, but even as J.T. Miller alluded to it after game three when the Canucks scored on the power play, he was like, yeah, you know, there was some good things, but also like I think we got lucky a little bit. And then it really showed out in game four where the power play, especially the top unit, was just completely ineffective. What I've noticed, Landon, is just how aggressive the Oilers have been at defending the blue line and defending the entries. Are there ways that you can beat that if you're the Canucks or use their aggression against them? - 100%, and they did it twice in a row last game and they got in and got the puck back was they rimmed it in. They just dumped the puck in and chased it down, right? Like I was honestly just hoping that after last week coming on the games go on that the power play wasn't gonna be a topic again. 'Cause it's the same thing every week because the weird part to me is that we're talking about all these things, okay, maybe they can try this, maybe you can try that, but game after game after game it's the same breakout and it's almost the exact same setup in zone two, right? So like nothing's changed yet. We were talking about it last week and they're so determined to be in that drop. Like they had the one, I think it was the first power play. They dropped it four times in the neutral zone. They kept circling around each other and they ended up, that was actually one, they ended up throwing it with Peterson all wide and he slapped it around the boards and they got in that way. But like they're so dead set on dropping the puck. How about letting two players go skate ahead of Quinn and throw it out to him with some speed and just trying to tackle with some pace? And once you do that, now they may back off a little, now you can go into the drop and you can do it. But the other part of it as well is you can't skate four feet over the blue line and stop every single time because that's one of the main things that you brought, or you're alluding to when you said they made some adjustments and were aggressive. Like if they know you're going to stop four feet inside the blue line and try and throw it across ice, like that makes the PK pretty easy. Just stand there, you don't even have to go anywhere, right? So like there needs to be some variation. - Yeah, and that's what I know we talked about this before too and you've mentioned some ideas about trying to do some different things on the zone entries but is it as simple as one way you mentioned there, just throw it a puck deep and just work as hard as you can to retrieve it? - Well, let me throw you this question. When Detroit was, you know, at the top of the league for all those years and they had Federoff and Iserman and Lidstrom and all these amazing Hall of Fame players, why was this, they're one staple that stood in front of the net in Homestrum, right, Lake? - Yeah, even with all that skill they knew, throw the puck in there, let them battle it. - Yeah, the Canucks, well, you know, they don't really have that guy on the top unit. - Well, at the same time, I feel like you've got guys that'll stand in there, whether it's Lindholm or I mean, even at the end of the game there, you have Joshua standing in front. Like there's guys that are there. It's just the puck needs to get there. The worst thing is as a net front guy is when you work as hard as you possibly can, get through six cross checks to the front of the net and the puck doesn't come. Because after a while, whether you're mean to or not, you start fighting a little less to get to the front of the net 'cause what's the point, right? So like get back in and just get to the net and just start letting some shots go through. Like they get those couple of goals. What are the game three? And, you know, they're in different positions. Not saying they have to play like Edmonton does where their power plays flowing through different positions. And it's honestly, it's beautiful, the watch. It's unbelievable. But, you know, I'm not saying to do that, but like there needs to be some movement. - There has to be movement. And I think, you know, the way Coach puts it at times they can get mechanical and they're thinking about what play they're gonna get to rather than just playing and seeing what opens for them and what's available to them. And that's where it gets stalled out. You mentioned Edmonton's power play. I mean, it might be the greatest in NHL history. Conor McDavid might be the greatest power play player the league has ever seen. I mean, he's a cheat code. They don't have to worry about entries because Conor McDavid will just get the puck into his own. That's the way that they do it. And no other team really has that weapon in the league. And I feel for the Canucks penalty killers because for large stretches, like they've had good moments. But like at some point McDavid or Drycidal is going to make you pull away or make a bad decision and try to dive in, make a play. And all of a sudden now Drycidal is open for that one time or off the goal line in your toast. - Yeah, I mean, like watching that, you can see it happening as Joshua moves back to the middle and the puck gets up to Bouchard. Like he kind of half commits to get all the way up. And as soon as he does, you know, McDavid just so smart but he just takes one little cut to the middle and now not only is Joshua giving up the middle but he's also let him cut on the underside of him. So now everything gets exposed 'cause now that D has to come running all the way up instead of staying in there. Like one easy adjustment there, and again, I'm saying this about guarding Conor McDavid. It's a easy adjustment, he probably just does something else that ends up going in anyway. But like if Joshua just stays a little bit lower then he's still in the lane for Bouchard. If he throws it back to McDavid he's one step back towards the boards and he's blocking him off. Now McDavid at least can get to the middle which doesn't allow that seam back down to Drycidal to be there. So at least you can block that part off. I believe it was on the Carlson, yeah, the Carlson penalty later, it was on the other side and McDavid does the exact same thing to him on. Like it's there, you just, like you can't allow yourself to get pulled so far out. - Well, you know, on what you mentioned about that, like one of the things that I always, I marvel on Conor McDavid is he puts people in a position where they have to make a 50/50 decision almost like he almost forces you to pick your poison one way or another and what is it about certain players that are just so smart at seeing positions where they can force you into having to make one of two bad decisions? - I mean, I would love to know how to put that as a practice my career would have gone a heck of a lot better but no, it's, I mean, he obviously sees the game so much better than the majority of players that play hockey but at the same time, it's almost like, you know, it's not almost exactly like Pavel Datsuk, like once you prove that you can continually make players look dumb by, you know, blowing a tire, trying to stop and keep up with you, like once you do that a few times in the first year, you're in the league, year or two, you're in the league, like you've now bought yourself space. Like if I'm standing on the half wall on a power play and Connor McDavid standing on the half wall on a power play, like Tyler Myers coming out and coming to play me and play McDavid, he'll do it two completely different ways. 'Cause he knows if he runs rate at me, I'll probably turn the puck over. He's gonna force me into a play that I wasn't ready for and now I've thrown it away. But if it's McDavid, he knows if I run rate out there, he's gonna do one little shimmy shake and he's gonna put it through my body because it's a massive triangle to hit, right? Like it's, you buy yourself time that you get to be able to do those things, but then on top of it and it kind of goes back to the Vancouver power play talking about mechanical. Like they play and it's because they are so good that they've bought, you know, extra rope to play with. They're, you know, they can make mistakes because they know they'll get it back another way. But they play almost like pick up hockey on the power play. Like there's no real positions. Everyone's moving around. It's just like they go with what feels natural, which is impossible to try and defend because you don't really know where the next move's gonna be or where McDavid might be standing or Drycidal might kind of mosey is way over to the other side of the ice. Like you just don't know. It's, it makes it so difficult and honestly just astonishing to watch. - Landon, it's always a pleasure having you on. Thanks so much for your insights today. - All right, and make sure you rest up those voices. I want to hear that PD chant going again. (laughing) - Yeah, we will. Thanks, Landon. - Yeah, have a good one, guys. - Landon Ferraro, former NHLer and analyst for us here during the course of the Stanley Cup playoffs joining us weekly on, on Canucks Central and... - Another terrific hit with him. He's been absolutely fantastic. - Yeah, and so right about the Oilers power play. I mean, you know, like the, I mean, they have McDavid, right? So that just allows them to do other things that a lot of things that other teams just simply can't do. But how many other power plays do you watch? Maybe McKinnon can do this. Where, like, McDavid will just, like, wheel the puck around the net and not pass to anybody. Like, other teams have to pass their way around the zone and pass their way through to his wheel. McDavid just carries the puck on his own and then waits for the opening to come. - No, we see Quinn do that from time to time. McDavid does it every power play. - Yeah. - And then it's even compounded by the fact that Leon Drey settles a possible take the puck off. So when he gets going on the power play, he starts moving, nobody can take the puck off of him. So they're two impossible guys to move and they constantly move. I mean, we have people texting and be like, how hard can it be to stop Drey settle? He always shoots from the same spot. And he does, but he's not always in the same spot. The thing is, he always ends up there, but you don't know when and how he ends up there. And part of it is the orbit that McDavid has and when you're going five on four, they exploit that extra man. They always put you in a position where you got to figure out a two on one. You see it all the time. And when that happens, you're picking your poison. You're trying to go for the lesser evil and that's really dependent on how the puck's gonna move. So I just don't know what else you can do outside of what the connects have done so far on the PK and just hope he gets some breaks along the way. - Well, in a lot of times, like your hockey brain will say he's standing on the goal line. That is the less dangerous factor here. So I'm going to take McDavid. - Yeah. - And then when the puck goes over to Drey's side of like, how many guys in the league are scoring on that shot as often as he does? - Yeah. - You know, with his feet essentially below the goal line. - Yeah, not many guys can. - It's Dan Reicho, Satyar Shah, Canucks playoff coverage on Sports at 650 brought to you by Avenue Machine Ray and Douglas Lake equipment. Get your keys to an all-star collection of Kubota products at one of their six locations across BC this spring. Visit dleamc.com. Let's get in a goal horn. (dramatic music) A lot happening between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers. Vincent Trocek got one for the Rangers, his sixth of the postseason. But it's Carolina up 3-1. They've got goals from Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Ajo here in the second period. So they lead it 3-1 midway through on Sportsnet as they try to stave off elimination and force a game seven with the New York Rangers. Gullhorn is brought to you by Rewind Beerco. They'll find their big West Coast IPA at a liquor store near you and celebrate big plays in a big way. Dan Reicho, Satyar Shah, we're gonna make our way down to the concourse here at Rogers Arena section 111. We'll have some freebies, some swag to give out as well while we're there. So stop by if you are coming down to the rink ahead of game time. You are listening to Canucks Central.
