Wyatt Johnston on Stars taking 3-2 series lead over Avs + Lightning-Panthers finish 😮 | SC with SVP

Wyatt Johnston on Stars taking 3-2 series lead over Avs + Lightning-Panthers finish 😮 | SC with SVP

It’s a two- two series despite the fact that the Stars have bled for basically a minute in four games. With that in mind, off the face off, Wyatt Johnston from what appears to be an impossible angle, you see that Nathan McKinnon here gets turned around for just a brief second. That’s the fastest goal from the start of the game in Stars franchise playoff history. 9 seconds. It’s now two nothing and Rupe hence Mo Rantinan against his former squad. The Stars top players are playing their very best. Speaking of top players, McKinnon here does a remarkable job keeping the defender at bay. Buries this and the ABS are now within one. It’s three to two on the power play with just over three to go. Rantin Matt uh Matt Duchain I should say finds Johnston little tic-tac-toe and then a minute later it’s Alexander Petrovic and a beautiful miss there from Mason Marchment there and it’s a 52 lead. They tack on another and the Stars roll and history is squarely on their side. They are 16-1 in their history in a series where they’ve led 3-2. That’s better than 94%. They dropped just one of those. Was a second rounder against the Blues in 2019. They’ve won each of the last six times, although half of them did require a game seven. PK Suban is standing by. PK, I need to know just off the top, do they make that in a 2XL uh big and tall? I’m sure you could get it, but this is just a large, so this one’s not uh All right, Stanford, Steve and I were asking. It looks spectacular. Speaking of spectacular, the Stars in a series where they’ve largely played from behind but have battled, they jump out to that lead and when you get a lead 9 seconds in and a critical game five, how much does that kind of move the needle? Oh, it moves it big time. First of all, Colorado wasn’t ready to play. uh you know Mackenzie Blackwood letting in that goal from the corner inexcusable but after that even you would expect some push back. I I just didn’t see Colorado find their agame and you’re going to Both teams need their aames to win in this series. Both teams are really really good. Both teams have depth. Dallas to me looks like the more connected team right now. I I think they’re really rallying around the fact that they’re they’re without their best defenseman. They’re out with their uh without their their top goal scorer. They’ve rallied around that. They’re playing for each other. They’re playing with energy. They’re on the puck. They don’t look a step behind. If anything, Colorado looks slow. And they made trades to make this team faster. They bring in Nas. They bring in some other pieces that should make them a speedier team, but they’re not connected right now. They seem one step behind. But make no doubt about it. This series, I believe, is going to go seven. Big game for Colorado going back home. It is interesting, PK. This Dallas team, you mentioned the the significant players they’re without and they ended the season as badly as they could. Couldn’t win a game, right? But here they are now a game away from advancing and if they kick the can down the road long enough, maybe they’re going to get some of these talented players back. I I Are you surprised that Colorado finds itself in the spot it is going home having to win to force a seventh game just given the amount of talent that’s in that room? No. And and they shouldn’t be surprised either. That’s a hell of a hockey team over there in Dallas. And and and listen, we thought that this series would be more lopsided them missing missing Hasten and missing Roberts Robertson, but it hasn’t been. Ratin stepped up. Uh um um uh sorry, uh the Dallas Stars have just played really, really well. And I think that as a group, Pete Pete D’vor has done a fantastic job of keeping these guys focused. I think Colorado has has had tremendous depth. this team. You can see there’s a lot of new pieces on this team. Ryan Lingard, some different pieces, and maybe that has to do with it. But to me, right now, it’s the intangibles on their power play. Things that we see Colorado do really, really great, like their power play, they’re a step behind. Even Kale Mar, best defenseman in the world, didn’t look himself today. So, I think a quick regroup for them, but give Dallas all the credit in the world. We see the depth. We see new heroes stepping up every night. Colin Blackwell scoring big goals for them. This is a really fun team to watch right now and they’re playing for each other. I’m not surprised by their success. If you don’t mind hanging out there on the crease for just a moment, I’m going to pivot to this Lightning Panthers game. We’ll get back to you. Okay. All right. Thanks, man. Thanks, Scott. Oh my goodness. Hit on. The only players we hit are the ones that have pucks. Oh, and cancel just got wasted in the neutral zone. The only players we hit are the ones with pucks. I’m at home watching the Senators game and he ch me. He used my own words on me, too. Well done. Little spicy down there in Florida. Lightning Panthers. Big game four. Brandon Hegel returns to the ice after a oneame suspension. Matthew Pachchuck and the Panthers are ready. Lightning trailing one- nothing. Here’s the moment of the game. Hegel blasted by Aaron Ecklad gets up and heads to the locker room. You see Eklad loads up the forearm. No penalty assess. Coupe goes absolutely bananas on the bench. Hegel would not return to the game. Under eight minutes in the second. Michael Chaffy on the rebound. His first career playoff goal. What a time for it from a difficult angle. Lightning tie this game up at one apiece. Shortly after the ensuing faceoff, we saw the quick goal in Dallas. How about 11 seconds for two goals for the Lightning? Eric Cherack and Coops going bananas now said that’s how you do it, boys. They take a 2-1 lead heading into the third. They’re about four minutes away from forcing a game five at two apiece. And then guess who? Eklad who had scored a goal earlier which was taken off or off sides. Here it’s Ecklad. Nobody gets a body on him. The rebound comes right to him, burying it. Panthers tie it 2-2. Shortly after the ensuing faceoff, it’s Seth Jones. And now the Panthers have two in 11 seconds. The fastest two goals in Panthers playoff history. They add an empty net and a remarkable turn of events. The Panthers even it, take the lead, and then win. They now are ahead three games to one in that series. Wyatt Johnston joins me now on Sports Center. Hey Wyatt, it’s Scott Vanpelt. Thank you for taking a moment to visit with me. A lot has been made probably by me more than anybody of the fact you guys are tied 22 in this series and you had led for a minute. When you score 9 seconds in, how drastically does that change the energy and direction of a game like it did tonight? Uh yeah, it’s huge. But um I mean you always you always want to get off to good starts and we haven’t uh haven’t been as good as at doing that um you know so far this series. So it’s great to you know get up get with the lead and um I mean we never looked back. So um yeah just a just a huge win and it’s you know it is nice to uh you know to play with the lead for a little bit. As we showed in the highlight you guys score the first three but then McKinnon buries one and it’s a 3-2 game but then you all respond and that’s was the story of this night. goal scored quickly. You guys get one on the power play and another one right behind it. Going into the room with a big lead. What was the message and the energy that you guys are bringing out for that final 20 minutes with a chance to go up 3-2? I mean, it’s exciting just um I mean, the message is just kind of stick with it. They’re obviously a uh you know, a great team and they can uh they can make you pay if you take your foot off the pedal. So I think just um you know the mindset was just you know keep playing our game, keep doing what you know makes us successful and um yeah I mean super exciting going into the third period with the lead with the chance to uh go up 3-2 in the series. So it’s uh you know it’s awesome that we were able to get it done. I’m going to close with this thought. Um, we all know that you guys are down some significant contributors to this squad, but if you guys can keep winning games, uh, if it goes seven here, if you get to the next round, I mean, there’s every chance that you could add really important bodies. So, how far do you guys think you have to go potentially, Wyatt, to get some of these really important, uh, guys back to the room? Yeah, I mean, I’m not I’m not too sure. I mean, we want to get those guys back as as soon as possible. They’re um you know you know unbelievable players and um yeah I mean the only thing that we can really focus on is just doing our best to keep winning games. Um you know keep keep playing the way we we can play. I think the great thing about us is we have such a deep team and we have so many guys who can make plays and and you know fill in and pitching when we have guys out of the lineup. So just the mindset just keep keep playing keep you know trying to trying to advance win games and just give ourselves a chance so we can get you know some guys back. I think we all understand, Wyatt, that yours is a sport where resolve is in the DNA of of the uh every single team, but what you guys are showing here against a great club in Colorado up 3-2 is really impressive. Appreciate the time. Congrats on a great uh a great evening tonight. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. Of course. So, the Stars have a 3-2 lead heading to Colorado game six on Thursday. As for the Florida 3-1 lead over Coach Coupe and the Lightning, he was asked afterwards about that hit and calls that have and have not been made. I think he’s tired of discussing. It’s getting tiresome answering questions about a hit every single game. So, I’ll ask you. You asked me the question. Why are you asking me the question? Do you have anything to say about it? Nobody cares about it. Oh, well, but you know, if anybody in here has something, stand up and let me know. All right, let’s move on. PK Suban joins us again here and um Tampa Bay moves on down 3-1. Ecklad scores the equalizer in a game where he delivered that hit to Hegel. What’s your reaction to that hit? What what should have been called in that moment? Well, definitely should have been a two-minute minor at least. But the the question of whether he hit him in the head not is not a question. He definitely makes head contact there. Whether it’s with the elbow or the forearm, it doesn’t matter. In that moment, there’s head contact. But, you know, I look at this play kind of like the Sam Bennett Brad Marshon play. You know, I I thought that he I thought he did a masterful job of keeping his arm tucked in. You don’t actually see where the elbow is. And you know, as a player, I know his elbow kind of makes contact there with his chin, but it’s playoff hockey. You know, you know this, Scott, these things happen in the playoffs. It’ll get reviewed like every play does. We’ll see what the league does, what they say. But for me, what happened tonight, Tampa did it to themselves. They had opportunities on special teams to capitalize. They didn’t. They had opportunities to build momentum in their game. They didn’t. Florida Panthers got back to championship form, and they showed once again why they’re Stanley Cup champions. Even when it comes to that rough stuff, that makes you a champion as well. You got to do that stuff too at the right times. I defer I defer to your area of expertise and understanding. Like the Wilson hit in Montreal on Sunday night. Like that’s playoff hockey. It was a hell of a hit. I understand because of who it was. People are like that’s dirty. Other people are saying no it’s not. So I’m not saying this guy was supposed to be run tonight. I just wanted your perspective and I got it and now Florida’s in control. PK, go ahead quickly. And and Scott, I’ll say one more thing. The perspective is that the refs, we have refs for a reason. They’re not going to see everything. That’s a part of the game. So players got to play the game the way that they play it. In that moment, if Eblads a half a second later, the ref turning catches it maybe and puts his hand up and makes a call, it’s a different game. So the refs are human. They’re not always going to see everything. That’s why we review it. So we’ll see what happens with the with the NHL tomorrow. Quite a night, but we’ve been saying that every single night. And again, I just remind myself this the first round, man. What a what a sport. What a playoff. What a tournament. Appreciate you, man. Thank you. All right. Thanks, Scott. [Music] [Music]

P.K. Subban joins Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter to recap action from the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and SVP interviews Wyatt Johnston after the Dallas Stars’ Game 5 victory.

0:00 Avalanche-Stars Game 5 recap
1:56 P.K. Subban reacts
4:42 Lightning-Panthers Game 4 recap
6:46 Wyatt Johnston joins
9:50 Ekblad’s hit on Hagel

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