EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers push to get back in the Stanley Cup Final and inch their way closer to making history, how the Florida Panthers can stop that from happening, and reaction to all the news being made outside of the championship round is all part of the discussion on this week's episode of the "NHL @TheRink" podcast.
Co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke open the show talking about the Cup Final and how the Oilers have pushed it to Game 6 at Rogers Place here in Edmonton on Friday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC) after falling behind 3-0.
A big part of the opening of the show is a discussion with Rosen and Roarke talking about the dominance of Oilers center Connor McDavid, who is riding a streak of consecutive four-point games and setting records all over the place, exceeding even the highest of expectations that are always placed on him.
Rosen talks with NHL.com's Edmonton-based staff writer Derek Van Diest to get a sense of the Oilers and how the city of Edmonton is responding to this run and the resurgence in the Cup Final. They also talk about how Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have been quiet thus far in the Final, and maybe that bodes well for the home team Friday night as it looks to push the series back to Florida for a Game 7 on Monday.
Rosen and Roarke then talk about the potential changes in the Panthers' lineup for Game 6, with one actual lineup change (Nick Cousins for Kyle Okposo), and two moves with players who have been playing.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson is expected to take over for Brandon Montour on the point of Florida's first power-play unit, which has struggled. The Panthers are 1-for-16 on the power play with two short-handed goals against, and Montour was a culprit on both.
Carter Verhaeghe is also expected to swap places in the top-six forward group with Evan Rodrigues, the former going to play on the top line with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart and the latter moving to the second line with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk.
Following that brief discussion, Roarke welcomes NHL.com staff writer Tom Gulitti into the podcast and talks with him all about the Panthers, their state of mind and more.
Rosen and Roarke close the show breaking down the news outside the series, including the New Jersey Devils acquiring goalie Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames, the Washington Capitals plans for Pierre-Luc Dubois after getting him from the Los Angeles Kings, Barclay Goodrow going back to the San Jose Sharks and where the Columbus Blue Jackets could trade Patrik Laine.
The "NHL @TheRink"podcast is free and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms. It is also available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.
