
GAME NIGHT: Ducks Win Playoff Preview, Avalanche CLINCH, Hurricanes EARN Two Points, Panthers Dud
About this episode
Mike Asti and Eddie Garcia discussed Colorado dominating Chicago to become the NHL's first team to clinch a playoff spot, Anaheim winning a potential playoff series preview against Utah, Carolina stacking two points in spite of a rough outing from Brandon Bussie and more on this Friday edition of LockedOn NHL Game Night.
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Locked On NHL - Daily Podcast On The National Hockey League — GAME NIGHT: Ducks Win Playoff Preview, Avalanche CLINCH, Hurricanes EARN Two Points, Panthers Dud. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
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and we had interesting slate of games, an important slate of games here on this Friday night. We have a team, as I said, that clinched a playoff spot. We now are finally whittling away the standings and getting our teams into postseason and the other games, some duds, but some interesting for sure. And we are going to start with the last game of the night. That's the headline of the day, because it could very well be a playoff preview. And that is the Anaheim docks getting a 4-1 victory over the Utah mammoth. And Eddie, if you didn't watch the game and you just look at the box score, you have no idea what happened in this game and you were completely misled. It says 4-1, but it's actually a come from behind win for Anaheim. Their eighth consecutive such victory, John Carlson got his first point as a duck, and they fired away a couple of empty netters there at the end. So it wasn't like they were peppering away with goals, even strength. They did also have a power play late, as both teams kind of got chippy there at the end.
And maybe realizing they're going to meet maybe in a month or so. So this Anaheim team has been for real all year. They add John Carlson. What do you make of this team since that acquisition? And do you want to see this? Do you want to see a series of this? Do you want to see best of seven between Anaheim and Utah? I wouldn't mind it. And I think it would be a very competitive series. And obviously we still have to see how things shake out as far as the other playoff matchups. But just on the surface, I feel pretty confident Utah is going to get the number one wildcard. So we look at the ducks, Vegas, and Edmonton. None of them, and frankly, no team in the Pacific right now, is doing much since the Olympic break. If you're asking me to pick one of those teams, I might pick the ducks just based on Lukas Tostal, their gold tender alone. So I think this is pretty close to being a playoff preview. And I think you're right. I think some of the chippiness we saw in this game was probably a little bit of a result
of that that players understanding that this could very well be a first round playoff matchup. So I think it would be a very entertaining matchup. They're going to be probably very close as far as how many points each team has when it's all said and done. I think it would be a bit of a toss up, honestly, and I would not be surprised if Utah won that series. But I think it would be close competitive. And you know, you mentioned the ducks with their eight straight comeback win. This is not their typical comeback win though, and they they were down one nothing early. So yes, but usually this is a team that finds a way to pull one out late. They've done it a lot. And I think I was impressed with the fact that they had the lead going into the third that's not a position that they're typically in a lot. And so you want to see can they close out a team when they're in that position? It's one thing when you're flying around, maybe you don't have a lot of pressure on you, you're just throwing everything at the net to try and come back a win.
It's another thing to have the lead and have to lock it down on the road to close it out. So I thought that was a pretty impressive win and an important kind of a win for the ducks. Yeah. And this also to me was the best we saw of John Carlson, not even just on the ice, but kind of as being that leader for this team. He's the one play of experience. He's been in every possible scenario. You could imagine a Stanley Cup champion after 17 years with the Washington capitals. We kind of saw him come alive and why he's there that coach on the ice beyond Quinnville. And if I was going to pick between this possible playoff series preview here and which team I would favor, it probably would be the ducks for having a three time champion head coach for having John Carlson now part of the fold for being a team that really as known they are playoff caliber at least most of the year and playing so confident. Whereas Utah kind of coming out of nowhere a little bit more recently and they had expectations coming in the year, but not starting out as hot as they would like.
So I would give the adage to Anaheim because of all of that, but it could go either way. Do you look at this game though as one that's a missed opportunity for Utah? They weren't up three nothing even though it counts as a come from behind win, but Utah did jump out quick and then they let the game get away and Anaheim really controlled it there at the end. It really was no chance for Utah to try to tie this even before the empty netters. They're lucky. We didn't see a third empty netter with how much and I wanted to drill at home. I think that was also part of hey, we're going to meet you again. We don't mind multiple empty netters here to show this box score being bigger than the game really was. Yeah. Look, this was a close competitive game throughout. I don't think I'm too disappointed if I'm Utah, of course, I of course I wanted the two points, but I don't think that they played poorly. I think there's one thing they probably look at and think we've got to be better at. It's probably the power play. They had multiple power play opportunities, including a big one late to try and tie it up. Didn't get much going on. That's probably the one area and by the way, they didn't have their number one goalie
in that as well. They had you tag band and check in that going up against the ducts number one goalie. So there's there's that as well, but I don't think I don't think Utah's is to distraught over this. I will say, by the way, did you know the Anaheim ducts have a negative goal differential on the season? I heard that the other day, actually, yes. They're in first place in their division, and they're a minus eight after this game, by the way, where they have a couple of integrators that help out. That's wild when you look at it because there, you know, if you see any teams that are in a playoff spot with a with a goal differential, it's negative. It's like, you know, the troids of minus one, you know, to me, like nobody else is close to that. It's pretty amazing that they've been able to do what they've done based on, you know, not being able to out there, outscore their opponents overall on the season. Yeah, that is wild. Although they can thank Edmonton for fading and Vegas for being so ridiculous for their
position as well, but certainly deserving of where they are. They had to anomaly for sure. And we now are going to close our conversation here on the ducts victory over Utah with our locked on ducts host to watch this game closer than anybody else and a big win for an eye. Ducks come away with a win out in Utah. Mason McTavish finds his way into the lineup and helps contribute to the game winning goal for the ducks. Then I'm taking this win away four to one scoring two empty nets at the end of the game. And this one got super chippy between the two teams who are most likely going to be seeing each other in the playoffs. So looking forward to some fireworks between these two teams in the postseason, fly together. You got to like the chippiness when you have a likely playoff series preview for sure. That did feel like even Utah realizing, okay, you're throwing the empty netters at us. We're not going to win this game, you know, take a push or two.
And then you play the rest of the season knowing that we're for real. And I do think Anaheim left this this game realizing that's not going to be an easy, that's not going to be an easy series. And I think Utah left that game thinking we can definitely win that series. So that's going to make it a long quality series for sure. Eddie Garcia, my gosh, you're locked on NHL game night. And we now are going to switch gears and move over to the Eastern conference now to round out this opening segment, a victory for the capitals over the devils. And that we mentioned, John Carlson traded to Anaheim to try to help them on their playoff push and teach the young kids how to win a cup like he did with Washington in 2018. His capitals have actually played okay since that trade kind of some pep in their step. They get this victory here, two to one over New Jersey who's done, stick a fork in them. Jack Hughes versus the hockey hall of fame is really the only conversation anybody's talking about and writing about covering the devils. What do you make of this recent effort by Washington?
And I guess the question here is which one of these two teams do you think is better positioned for next year? Well, I would probably go with New Jersey, a healthy Jack Hughes all year. If that happens, certainly would be something that they could probably have a much better time with. So if you're going to make me pick one of those, I think I would probably go with New Jersey. But I don't know that Washington is in kind of a dire straits. Either what is going to happen with Ovechkin? I mean, it's so odd that he has decided to really not say anything. And, you know, he hasn't had a great year. And, you know, you could certainly understand him maybe wanting to go out at this point not letting it get any worse. You know what I mean? He's been okay, but not up to his hall of fame standards, obviously. And certainly not coming off the heels of all the excitement from the year before. So I think Washington is certainly preparing themselves for life after Alexander Ovechkin.
Oh, yeah. So, you know, we would, I think we would need to have a decision on that as well to kind of handicap that. But I would just go to New Jersey just based on a healthy Jack Hughes. Hopefully for them will certainly go a long way in them being a much better team. Yeah. And I think what this year told us about the capitals. Even like even two years ago, three years ago, they can't just rely on Ovechkin to carry them to playoffs anymore. This is a different Ovechkin. He is older. He has Gretzky's record. But looking for the overall mark in terms of goalscored, regular season and playoffs. And who knows if things fix itself with Russia, if he wants to compete in the Olympics, if they get back there and are able to play in 2020 or in 2030. That's really the only, there's only things left for him to have a chance to play for really. The only thing he can be looking forward to in his career, he's done everything else, of course. And it feels like Washington has been preparing for this for a while in terms of, okay,
we're going to let him get the record and we know this day is coming. But yet, there's a lot of uncertainty on the roster. So you really don't know what they're going to look like. At least the devils know who they're building around. Of course, if Jack Hughes can be healthy. So that maybe gives them an edge. But of course, the capitals are going to be an attractive destination. They're still going to be around. They're still going to try to do something. And I would also be surprised that Ovechkin would retire at the end of this regular season. I know now that's kind of the chatter a little bit because it's been a rough road and they're not a playoff team. I don't think he wants to end this way. I can tell you, Crosby's coming back. I think he might want to go out together. I don't know if he wants to go out first. Yeah, he's upset about the destination of the team unlike Crosby with the Penguins, maybe. We'll see. I think he needs some time to air this season out. He did mention after Carlson being traded. That was the worst day individually of his career. So he's been kind of depressed. I think he just needs to take the vacation in the summer. And then we'll see where his head's at. But we're not done yet. And we do have several more games left on our dock.
And including one that went to overtime. Some others that were played and Colorado clinching a playoff spot. No need to let that breathe anymore. The Colorado clinching a playoff spot. We have our first team. And when the postseason Colorado showing how good they are, granite. You have to look at who they played as well. How do you cash back with Chase Freedom Unlimited? Four decks of cards, three pairs of dice and two very different friend groups. Cash back on game night earns 3% cash back at drug stores with Chase Freedom Unlimited. Restrictors and limitations apply. Cards are issued by JPMorgan Chase Bake NA member FTIC. Workplace chaos deadline stacking up in box overflowing. And the one position you have to fill still sitting open on your desk. When the pressure is on and you need the right, the right hire. It's the job for sponsored jobs indeed sponsor jobs helps you reach the people
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Again, indeed sponsor jobs that indeed.com slash podcast to get $75 off. Just go to indeed.com slash podcast and sponsor and support our show by saying you heard about indeed sponsor jobs and indeed in general here on this podcast. Back with you, Mike Oste, Eddie Garcia here, locked on any show game night. As I mentioned, we had an overtime thriller. The leaves aren't really going anywhere, but nonetheless hanging tough. They've been competitive actually with Austin Matthews on the show for the rest of the year after his gruesome injury that that has him now end out even with his future will be with Toronto. But the Carolina Hurricanes get the 4-3 win and over time they had to kind of come from behind down early in that game and stacking two points is important for Carolina. How much of a favorite is Carolina? Where do they rank in the pecking order of East Favorites for you?
Well, I mean, they are very good at getting to the conference finals, right? So they take advantage of this format, for sure. This format is beneficial to get there at least. I mean, look, I like Carolina. I like them as a team. I like Rod Brandenmore as a coach. I like the style of play that they have. I don't know though about the gold tending. And I was going to ask that. Well, we saw it, I think, in this game. And Brandon Bussey has been a great story. The record is the record. And he's 26, 6 and 1. It is rookie year, by the way, but he's not eligible for the call there because he's 27 years old. But he's been a great story. And he came into this on a three game losing streak. And I didn't think he played very well in this game. I thought his rebound control was spotty. He was fighting the puck all night. He got the job done. His teammates helped him out, certainly, with enough offense. But is Brandon Bussey a 27 year old rookie who's been a great story? Is he the guy that's going to get this team over the hump and into the Stanley Cup finals?
I don't know. I had my reservations on him just because of his lack of NHL experience going in. But you're like, well, maybe they've caught lightning in a bottle and he's been so hot. But lately, he's kind of been staggering. So hope, let's see if he can write himself before the playoffs. But it's been a little bit shaky for him. And I think if you're carrying on with fans, you've got to be concerned about the gold tending. Yeah, in terms of the pecking order, you have to say that Buffalo and Tampa are more of a favorite if you're ranking the favorites out east. But when Caroline has faced those teams, they've been very competitive. They've shown they can play right with those teams and even beat those teams throughout this year. But you took the question right off the page for me. I was going to literally ask how you feel about Brandon Bussey because that's the question. If he is as good as maybe he was a couple months ago earlier in the season and the record is the record, of course, they could have another conference final run or plus. If he's kind of what he's been as of late, and certainly in this game, with a often
Matthew's less Leafs team that really has nothing to play for right now, yet they've oddly kind of been motivated as of late. They're lucky to really win this game. It took him over time to get those two points and it's because of Brandon Bussey. So maybe you like a little bit more maturity, even though he's a rookie, the fact that he is older than the normal rookie aid. We've seen young gold tenders take teams far in the post season before. It's not like it would be the first time we're completely unheard of, but him in particular has been the question all year long. That's really the most polarizing, goalie question we got going as we enter the playoffs for sure. Either you buy Brandon Bussey or you don't, and they're really probably going to go as far as he takes them. I think it's pretty fair to say. We do want to check in though with a locked on Leafs host, a loss, but a valid effort for Toronto. Not an ideal night for team tank. I'm David Morrissey from the lock on these podcasts, a 4-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes
in overtime. And this is just one of those games where, you know, you wish at least we're in a different position because you could have enjoyed it a lot better to see William, you let her have a great effort to tie the game late in the third period. And look, you give the least of valiant, you know, the valiant effort to really push the Carolina Hurricanes through this one. They were down going into the third period and a lot of fans are hoping that maybe, you know, good effort, but just doesn't result in the two points and it's tough to hope for moments like this. But, you know what, it was an entertained night, willing to enter with that brilliant goal. John Tavares scoring, having seen a lot of goal scoring from Hentley and Dakota Joshua also getting on the board. So the veterans really did come through. The younger guys struggled in this game a little bit more. Mike DeSef and I will discuss this game. We'll discuss the Ottawa Seniors who they play on back-to-back nights. So Ottawa, really desperate. Let's see how the Leafs come out against them, a Hockey-9 in Canada.
All we want, good effort, don't necessarily need the wins. This was a half, half decent night for the team. Let's discuss all that on the Lockdown, these podcasts. Part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Yeah, if you're a Leafs fan, team tank. I don't know if you really want this effort, but it's a valid effort and it's been a valid effort actually since the announcement of awesome Matthews being out for the year. And who knows about his future yet Tavares stepping up, he's had a so, so year and one of the most disappointing teams of the season for sure is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Carolina going to be there. They're going to be in a thick of things. They're going to go as far as the goalie will take them. Eddie Garcia, my gosh, the year locked on NHL game night and next up, the flames beat the Panthers. 401. If you would have said this a year ago, two years ago, it would be wild. But the defending back to back, Stanley Cup champion Panthers are not going to be lifting the cup for a third year in the row, they're not even really going to be having a chance at doing so. They're not going to be part of the playoffs. It's been a rough year for the Panthers collectively, despite Matthew Kachuck winning
a gold medal with team USA. Dustin Wold stops 24 of 25 in this game. Matthew Kachuck does get his return to Calgary. It's kind of an odd result, though, because we were doing this show a night ago, and Florida was kind of flexing their muscles a bit against Edmonton. The team they beat in the cup final of the last two years and trying to make it clear to Edmonton, hey, you really should just end your season early and not even do the playoffs. You're not that good. And then they turn around 24 hours later and do this. It's almost like the Panthers knew their season kind of was over. They waved the light flag with their line combinations, resting some veterans, Chuck still out there, though. Gerowski did not start in this one. And yet, and he did against Edmonton, it's almost like the Browsky and the Panthers won to one more time. Say Edmonton, we're going to rub your nose in it one more time. And then now we're going to let somebody else be cup champions because they didn't really show up for this one. Yeah, this was a little bit like the Ducks' mammoth game and that this is the final score
is not really an indication of how the game went. It was a two-one game in the third, but unlike Anaheim getting two empty net goals, Calgary got two power play goals in the final three minutes to put this one away. But you talk about, you talked earlier about New Jersey and Washington for next year. I mean, for Florida, I think they are very understanding of what this season was. With all the injuries, I think they come back well-rested after playing a lot of playoff hockey the last few years, hopefully they come back healthy. And if there's anyone you're going to pick of a team that didn't make the playoffs year before, jumping right back into it, the Florida Panthers are right at the top of this. So, you know, this is just them. You know, if you look at some of the names in the lineup, there's a lot of names missing as well. Although I didn't see Seth Jones was back. I'm like, why even come back at this point in the season? But okay, whatever. Maybe you want to go ahead. It's an odd headline. For sure. I did see that. Yeah, that is it. Yeah. Yeah, when you're resting a lot of other guys, you decide to let him come back and finish
that. I mean, fine. But yeah, the Florida Panthers, they will be back very strong next season for sure. Yeah, and namely, Barkov, like getting more of him, you can have the success you've had the last couple of years, even Finland, if they would have had him in the Olympics. Maybe that would have been a different result for the Olympics and would happen in Italy. So he was that player that missed enough this year that him not being there impacted this season for sure. So you guys see him. I got to see your lock on, any show game night, and as I mentioned earlier, we have one more game left to go on our slate here in this Friday night. And that game, saw a team clinch a playoff birthday, the first team to clinch a playoff birthday, and it had to be the Colorado avalanche. We will talk about here in a moment. UnitedHealth group is bringing in-home treatment directly to patients, closing caregabs, identifying risks earlier and improving patient outcomes. In 2025, patients received over 19 million home visits.
Learn more at unitedhealthgroup.com slash commitment. If you've been thinking about join the everydayer club, now is the time again. Get your ad free shows and access to our group chat on Discord. And if you've already signed up for the NCAA tournament tip off and you're locked in with us, then talk some smack, enjoy the conversation. If you got an upset and we didn't, let us know all about it as part of our everydayer club because you are in the club. And if you can't get to the everydayer club bracket pool yet on Discord, then you still can be part of the conversation about what's going on in the NHL and what's going on around the country and what's going on or in Canada too, what's going on around North America. And you can even win some merch. So join the everydayer club. Right now you can use code Merch to get your first month, first month or March to get your first month free as part of our everydayer club again, locked on NHL game night. The avalanche do beat the black hooks four to one. And we mentioned some scores. We're not indicative of those results, Eddie.
This one was this was a good old fashioned beat down. If they're going to clinch a playoff spot, which I will add, call out a wood of clinch with one point. They didn't need to. They picked up to just for good measure to let you know we are way better than you. Nine straight years in the playoffs. Remember when they were building a decade ago, a distant memory. Nine straight years in looking now to maybe win another cup. They did a few years ago before the run from Florida. And McKinnon didn't even have to really get involved in this even though he had several assists in this game. Everybody else around the lineup was able to score 49 to 20 in shots on net in favor of the avalanche. They led double in them up all through the game. And of course, the black hooks are playing for the future. But an impressive dominating performance for Colorado as they clinch a playoff spot. And really, whether they do it on this night or tomorrow or another day or whenever it was going to happen,
it was bound to happen. What do you make of Colorado though, as we now have them in the postseason at one point earlier in the season back in 2025? They were on an historic pace. 2026 has seen them be more up and down. Come off of that a little bit. They're the first team to clinch though. Are they the head and shoulders favorite? I know I asked this to you a couple of weeks ago and you actually still went with them, but wavered a little bit. Where are you now on Colorado? It's clearly cover bust for them. Yeah, I mean, it's gonna, it should, I think come down to, you know, Dallas and Colorado and in the second round and probably the de facto Western conference final game. Yeah. But I think for me in this one, and this has been the thing that I just can't wrap my head around all season long when it comes to the avalanche. It's how bad they are on the power play. They had two power play goals in this game and you might think, oh, it's Chicago. Believe it or not, the Black Rocks have the best penalty kill in the NHL. So I think that's a very positive thing
that Colorado would take away from this game. Obviously, they picked up Nasim Kajri to help out with that. He gets a power play goal in this one. Rock Nelson a power play goal as well. So that's the one thing when you look at, you know, the Achilles heel of this team going into the postseason, can they get that power play to at least be somewhat dangerous? And I can't understand the life of me how it couldn't be when you throw out Kiel McCar and Nathan McKinnon and Marty Nhatius. And it just doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense. And yet it is what it is. But so at performance like this, you could say 4-1 or the Black Hogs, they dominated whatever. But I didn't score it in this game, but yeah. I do think that you take a lot of positives away because of that power play. If they can get the power play going, then certainly that will make them even more dangerous than they already are. Yeah, if it is Colorado Dallas, would you still favor the Amps? I, no, I wouldn't. I would think that, honestly, that's a coin flip for me. Oh, I think it's fair to say that.
Yeah, you could even argue favoring Dallas based on how these teams have played the last couple of months, not the full season. True. And of course, the stars did beat them head to head last year, so they got that. So I think it's as close as can be. And like I said, it might not only be the de facto Western Conference Final, it might be the de facto Stanley Cup Final. Right? Well, it's all said and done. I mean, they are the two best teams in the NHL right now. It's just, they happen to be in the same division. So, but yeah, that power play, it's gonna be, it's gonna have a huge spotlight on it for Colorado going into the playoffs. I think a night like tonight is encouraging for them. Yeah, and we're not gonna fully get into it here, but if that is the de facto Stanley Cup Final really, and obviously Western Conference Final, and it happens in Round 2, that's really gonna rev up the engines for a discussion about the playoff format, because is that really the best for the sport? Gary Bettman once said he loves it early on. What will that leave you in the later rounds? Will those finals be entertaining?
We will see if that even ends up being the case, and of course, Minnesota and other teams would like to say something about that, but they're gonna start having to play better than they've been as of late, for anyone who have confidence, that we will not see that matchup in the second round. And I think seeing that matchup at some point is going to give us a just due on this NHL season. They have been the two best teams in the West all year. They did meet, as you mentioned, in the playoffs recently. Dallas has kind of had Colorado's number, but Colorado has been the better team all year. We'll see if they really still are. That's kind of tapered off a little bit, and a lot of pressure on the avalanche. Little on the stars, but a lot more pressure on the avalanche. We have a lot more games coming up on our docket for Saturday. I know you'll still be on with Alex. We also have an NCAA tournament basketball game to cover, but you guys will have a lot more games on your docket, a lot more to discuss. A lot of those games are gonna play up implications, for sure, and really every game left on the schedule does, but the meat of the weekend is going to be about
potential flip-flopping in the standing. So thanks for tuning in to this episode of Lockdown NHL game night. Make sure you like and subscribe, and make sure you follow us as well as following the channel. And for those of you who love shows like this, we have an NHL team show for you with every single team in the league. And he's Eddie Garcia, the host of Lockdown LA Kings. I'm Mike Ostey, digital journalist in the Pittsburgh market. I host the podcast, Mike Drop on Series XM, and also writer for Yard Barker in the myriad of outlets. And again, don't forget to like, subscribe on this show. And if you're watching on YouTube, we want to hear your thoughts. So comment, and we will comment back to you as well. That'll do it for this episode of Lockdown NHL game night. Freddie Garcia, I'm Mike Ostey. Thanks for listening and watching. Lockdown NHL game night. Part of the Lockdown podcast network, your teams every day.
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