The NHL playoffs present an unusual opportunity to compare different English-language national broadcasts of the same game. That can sometimes lead to interesting results when those broadcasters have differing takes.
A case in point came from the end of Game 4 of the Toronto Maple Leafs-Florida Panthers second-round series Sunday, where TNT analyst Eddie Olczyk went off on a game-ending hit from the Leafs’ Max Domi on the Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov:
“That is a dangerous hit! I know the game is over, but that is as reckless and dangerous as you can get from that distance from the boards.”
Eddie Olczyk reacts to Maple Leafs-Panthers drama as Game 4 comes to an end. 🏒🎙️ #NHL pic.twitter.com/KUOlJ2ilkm
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 12, 2025
Olczyk’s discussion there comes around 1:40 on a showing of the replay: “That is a dangerous hit! I know the game is over, but that is as reckless and dangerous as you can get from that distance from the boards.”
This played out quite differently on the Canadian broadcast. Sportsnet analyst Craig Simpson didn’t say much on this, and didn’t even speak during or following the replay of the hit (although play-by-play announcer Chris Cuthbert wrapped the broadcast and threw to the panel shortly afterwards, so timing may have played a factor there):
Here’s how Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson covered Max Domi’s hit on Aleksander Barkov on the Canadian broadcast on Sportsnet. There wasn’t a lot of discussion beyond Cuthbert’s “There’s the Domi hit on Barkov that drew the ire of the Panthers.” pic.twitter.com/ZgkCCuSHs9
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 12, 2025
The Sportsnet panel also had quite a different take from Olczyk:
“It’s not a great hit, but honestly, it’s also one you don’t apologize for.”
The panel weighs in on Max Domi’s hit at the end of Game 4. pic.twitter.com/OWC9Y63Z9C
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 12, 2025
Just how problematic Domi’s hit was is a matter of debate. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic opined that it might not draw a huge amount of scrutiny if not for its game-ending timing, but that it will get a league look because of that. However, he added that he doesn’t expect a suspension.
If I had to guess right now, and I am guessing, no suspension. https://t.co/sETt0Dmfqv
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) May 12, 2025
There could be further implications for the series even without NHL action, though. The game-ending scrum saw some Panthers vowing revenge (and doing so to the cameras, no less):
Matthew Tkachuk was telling Willy Nylander that he was going after him next game because of the Domi hit on Barkov 😳 pic.twitter.com/dF0bYkJRxH
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 12, 2025
The broadcast dimension of this is particularly interesting. Neither of these broadcasts is a broadcast specifically for these teams, and both are watched by plenty of people who aren’t fans of either of these teams. But geography means there certainly will be more Panthers’ fans watching the U.S. TNT broadcast and more Leafs’ fans watching the Canadian Sportsnet broadcast.
That doesn’t necessarily mean those broadcasts are going to lean to one side or the other. National broadcasts do generally strive to avoid that, and it’s at the very least unlikely that Olczyk entered this broadcast thinking “How can I criticize the Leafs?”, or that Simpson came in with a plan not to criticize behavior from Toronto. But it’s at the least notable when a controversial play drew much more analyst criticism on TNT than on Sportsnet. And how these broadcasts cover this series going forward will be worth keeping an eye on, especially if heated on-ice tensions show up again.