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GDT: Stanley Cup Final Game 5 Canes v. Vegas 6/11 8:00

TheBigKahuna said:
He's been preaching about "swagger"for a week. He might as well go full Messier and guarantee the win.
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There’s two days left before Game 6. I feel certain that Torts will break out every single coaching cliche between now and game time.
The thing is … I’m not sure his team actually buys any of that crap.
 
Game 5 thoughts …

Nice robe, Commodore. And it was good to see Jesse Bowl Of Rice up there with him.

Slow start for Carolina. Not sure they were nervy, but there were a lot of little breakdowns in the first period. And it was in all three zones, so they really didn’t get any traction even when they had possession. Staal’s goal came out of nowhere, really, on a very nice pinch by Chatfield that stuffed a breakout and Staal finishing a check in the corner and rolling off of it to the net. Ehlers found him and bingo bango the Canes were alive. And they ran with it from there. They still didn’t generate a ton of offense until Vegas started taking penalties, but they took advantage of those mental breakdowns. Honestly, Carolina turned into 2025 Florida, minus the filth. They frustrated and goaded Vegas into losing their cool and then absolutely skewered them when they did. And like Carolina in 2025, it was the experienced guys blowing their tops. Stone and McNabb in particular, but Theodore was running around like a dog chasing a rabbit and both Hertl and Barbashev got the red mist and took themselves out of plays chasing hits. Don’t even get me started on Dowd. He just embarrassed himself last night. All of those guys have been around forever and they all know better, but Carolina can be REALLY frustrating to play against even when they don’t have their A game.

The building was great last night. This is a different mix in the stands than we saw earlier in the playoffs thanks to the price of entry, and it took the Finals crowd a few games to figure it out. Last night they did. They gave the home team a wave to ride when they needed it early and then kept up the heat when they were hanging on late. No notes.

Tactics favor Brind’Amour … for a guy who gets basically zero credit as a technical coach, Brindy has tweaked and tinkered and adjusted all through the playoffs and he just keeps getting results. Last night they finally found a curveball for Marner coming down the middle into his offensive zone. Taking advantage of Vegas’ mostly stationary defense, they started leaking a forward from Marner’s blind side to harass him when he made that little fishhook turn to come down the middle into the high slot … where he had been shredding the Canes D. He bobbled the puck several times and got stripped a few times as well, and overall just couldn’t find any rhythm in possession for much of the night. And Vegas’ D never really attacked the space they were given. Torts will likely clean that up in Game 6, but for now … advantage to the "players coach" over the "technician."

A power play? In this economy? … look, every team is better when they can put the knife in with power play goals. It just hurts more when you’re fishing the puck out of your own net when you know that your own team is responsible for the chance. We know this well enough, because the Canes have been on the receiving end of that dagger so very many times in playoffs past. As the series has gone on, Carolina has figured out the soft spots in Vegas’ kill and they’re starting to get results. Keep that up and Torts can just tell the front desk to donate that suitcase he left to Goodwill.

Edited to add … shout out to Sean Walker. He hasn’t been mistake free or anything but last night when his partner needed him to step up, he delivered. And by delivered, I mean he knocked a bunch of guys around. Sometimes a shift in the D Zone just really needs somebody to freaking hit a guy. Walker brought that energy. Shame that Karlsson got hurt, but … yeah. Stuff happens.
 
Listening to Torts and it cracks me up......when he was in the media he asked the same stupid questions and made the same stupid comments he just chastised a reporter for in the postgame. He is such a hypocritical fake ass POS.
 
Fayettenamcanesfan said:
Listening to Torts and it cracks me up......when he was in the media he asked the same stupid questions and made the same stupid comments he just chastised a reporter for in the postgame. He is such a hypocritical fake ass POS.
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Key word there … fake.

For most of the Final it’s seemed like he’s literally reading from a script, and I think his players are starting to see through the schtick.
 
jeffbear said:
Carolina turned into 2025 Florida, minus the filth. They frustrated and goaded Vegas into losing their cool and then absolutely skewered them when they did. And like Carolina in 2025, it was the experienced guys blowing their tops. Stone and McNabb in particular, but Theodore was running around like a dog chasing a rabbit and both Hertl and Barbashev got the red mist and took themselves out of plays chasing hits. Don’t even get me started on Dowd. He just embarrassed himself last night. All of those guys have been around forever and they all know better, but Carolina can be REALLY frustrating to play against even when they don’t have their A game.
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I think what drove those guys over the edge is when 5' 8" Logan Stankoven was laughing in their faces when these shenanigans first started.

Also, I want to give a special shoutout to Carter Hart being at the very tippy top of his crease with Svech already camped out on the goal post for his second goal of the game.
 
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