Hurricanes
Welter and Hintz: The Devils got the matchups they wanted against the Canes in Game 3 on Sunday
Pat Welter and Kacy Hintz discuss what went wrong for the Canes in Game 3 of the playoff series against the New Jersey Devils.
This Cannes Devils game three like a Mona Lisa smile. You can look at it at an infinite number of angles. Never see the same thing. So let's go back out to Newark where Casey Hinz is joining us from Prudential Center, Casey. Just a crazy game. And I talked to the guys before they left on the team playing, they were downplaying the matchups, downplaying the road ice, but that's not what we saw on this one, at least from my standpoint. What led to all the Devils skill breaking out at once. Well, Pat and I'm going to level with you because I'm pretty sure I told you to also downplay it because it really is a little bit overblown. The matchups, talk on the road and at home. But we really saw that play out that when the canes were at home back in Raleigh, they got the matchups they wanted, especially against Jack Hughes. And when you've got a guy like that who has so much speed and well, Mo had Jordan stall on him and that completely limited his chances, but not only that you had a completely whole other four checking line, including Jesper Fo Joan Martin cmi using their big bodies, their physicality to just completely dominate and limit those chances in the ozone. And tonight, of course, the Devils getting the matchup they want. And that allowed Jack Hughes with Nikko Heer, Timo Meer to kind of break free and play that game. Get out on the rush somewhere which they thrive so much on. We heard about this devil's team that they've got the speed, they are dominant on the rush, but we really didn't see that in games one and two. But boy, you saw that here tonight and once they were up, that allowed them to just play a whole lot freer and then the goals as we saw just continued to flow from there. Well, I know one thing Romo likes to say is he'd rather lose big than lose close. But one of the things that evolves from this game is the goalie situation, which could be a concern going forward. Freddie Anderson wasn't particularly sharp anti Ranta, still out with a mysterious illness right now. And Piche clearly probably not ready for this moment. Where do we stand after game three? Yeah, I know the guys, like for instance, Jordan stall, he said, you know, we feel bad for Freddie because of that start. We kind of left him hung out to dry there in this one. But, you know, he also comes in, I thought maybe he'd be a little bit sharper. He hadn't played those since March 28 was his last NHL regular season game. Of course, he played down in the HL there for a little bit. But, you know, once it was three, nothing Romo was asked, did you have a conversation with Kav after the first? Maybe to kind of get him ready? Mentally said, no, they didn't have that. But of course, once that first goal went in in the first minute, then they turned to Peter. He comes in. I really don't think though this is much of a goalie situation here. Of course, there was a couple there that early on that Freddie Anderson would, you know, so cliche, but would like to have back. But of course, there was, but there was breakdowns way before that before those goals that kind of led to those. But I think another big thing here, almost the bigger picture is Freddie Anderson hadn't started more than three games in a row this entire season. Tonight was four, number four in a row. And you just, we haven't seen that now. It has nothing to do with his health right now or, you know, anything like that because, you know, he is obviously healthy at the moment and he played great the last couple of games here. But it is just number one of those things that we just haven't seen these goalies. Both Auntie Ranta and Freddie Anderson play more than a couple of games in a row and perhaps, you could maybe say, you know, that show just a little bit there just given a 33 year old, he hasn't played in the playoffs here the last couple of years. So, who knows? I think they still go with Freddie Anderson. Hopefully, Auntie Ranta is healthy enough to back up because when we're looking at Fyoor KV, coming into this game, you're sitting here almost thinking like, man, if only rant was on the bench, you know, I think that he always gives this team a chance to win. He might not make the flashy saves, but Auntie Ranta really solid in net. So I think that was that kind of hurt a little bit. This team, it could have been a much different game. Nothing, nothing against Peter could check up. Obviously, we know he is great. He is the future here, but you just never know what this game would have went if France was on the bench and maybe came in and put up a solid performance so much going on in this game. Felt like a Michael Bay movie or John Wick didn't have the explosions, but it did have the fight scenes. You don't see those a lot in the playoffs, especially between the two best players on the ice, Jack Hughes and Sebastiano. What can you tell us about the F C in this one? Yeah, I think that was probably one of the funnier ones. Is that no one expected Jack Hughes and Sebastian aho to go at it. I had a chance to sit into the Jack Hughes interview after this game. And first of all, he would not call that a fight. Let's just make that clear. He said it wasn't a fight. He was more so just there kind of jarring back and forth. He said that it was a cross check from a and he had had enough, but he also said he knows that Sebastian is the cans top play. He said, I know I'm one of the best players and I know our team both wants their best players on the ice. So don't expect to see that again. But, hey, this is playoff hockey. Now, as for the other fight, that really was one, of course, Stefan Nason, Eric Hala that came after Hala took a run at Seth Jarvis. So Nason was asked, you know, was that sticking up for Jarvis? Was that maybe just kind of sending a message given just what the score was at that time. And Nason, I think that kind of speaks for itself, but we were also going at it all night long and it just felt like the right time. But boy, playoff fights, you just don't see those very often. Pat not sure how much we're going to see those moving forward in this series. But boy, maybe that will, you know, give, give some life here to the cans as we move forward especially a guy like Stefan Nason and I know Cannes fans are happy to, just to see that given the history with Eric entertaining, no doubt. Well, Casey, we'll let you get out of here because I think if you stay around Prudential Center any longer, the Keynes might recruit you to be their emergency goalie. So thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you again for game four.