Canes win Game 4 vs the Islanders!

It isn't often you have a guest on that is not on Twitter. Shane Willis with the Hurricanes, Bally Sports joins us now.

You were in Belmont Park yesterday. I appreciate your time. I appreciate the fact that you don't care about Twitter because it's unfortunately a complete distraction, especially during games. I would get nothing done, Adam, if I was on Twitter. I mean, I would just say it'd be constant just gifts being sent out. If everyone who knows me knows that'd be true. Okay.

All right. So quick thoughts on what was different about game four than game three to you? Well, to me, I think we talk about it all the time and I'd like to start in both games for killing hurricanes. But when you get that early goal, especially an early goal, there's a dagger because the Islanders continue to try and run around and escalate situations. And it's a parade to the penalty box and the Hurricanes make them pay. And I think that was the type of energy boost that they needed that Steph Jarvis needed to put in the back of the net to really roll through that game. But it continues to impress me how emotionally in check this team is each and every night 320 games because the Islanders have done everything to get under their skin, to get them off of it and to try and beat them that way. And the Hurricanes haven't moved one bit. And I feel really that game four was the best game the Hurricanes have played in the series so far. I agree.

I also think that Rod said it the other day and there's so many. This is where Twitter would have. Maybe you would have snapped back at people, but people wanted the Hurricanes to retaliate physically to what the Islanders were doing. And what I keep telling them is that this is this team is not built that way. It is not built to to deliver body blows like that. It is built to make you pay in other ways.

And Rod said it a couple of days ago. It's like, how do you respond? You respond by scoring on the power play because if they're going to go to the box, that's how you make them pay. I thought the nature's goal to start the second period ended the Islanders because they couldn't play. They realized then they couldn't. They couldn't continue playing that way. Otherwise, they had no chance to win to nothing. They could come back from.

But I thought that because if you look at it, I thought their physicality went away after that. Yeah, I agree. And then and then to me, as you mentioned on Twitter, people saying that, but it just showed there's proof right there of how you beat a team, right? They're doing everything they can. You can't win if you don't score. And to me, the way the Islanders are playing, it has taken their best players and their star players kind of out of their realm because they don't know what to do now. Are we supposed to be running around like this to the canes are pressing back. They're so tight defensively. They haven't generated much and not the power play scoring on us. Not what do we do? So to me, the hurricanes are kind of closed the door on any answers. Islanders have, and I agree with you. The hurricanes are a big team. They're physical, but they're within a system that we're going to hit you. We're going to take away pox. We're going to generate off of the hard work in the trenches or on the boards. The physicality they show may not be a prey to a penalty box.

And why did you want that? You know, go back to the head and Jack Drury that cost the New York Islanders because the guy and again, it gets put down to a two minute minor because there's a little bit of turn and Jack Drury, but because the guy thinks this is a playoffs, I'm going to send the message right here. It's in the back of your neck.

That is the most painful hit you can put on any team. Exactly what the hurricane did yesterday. Real quick before I ask you some about something else. Do we have an update on Jack? Do we think he's going to play tomorrow? Is there a serious injury or was he just shaken up and needed the rest of the game?

I'm not sure exactly. I didn't get any word coming out of the locker room last night. I think they're going to go with upper body injury today. I don't think any of the guys are going to skate and he'll get reassessed today. Tomorrow morning will be a better question of if he has an opportunity to play. But as we know, this young guy has as much character as anyone in that room. And if he has a chance and is able to go, then I think you'll see him. Um, but you know, we talked about storylines in the playoffs all the time. You know, the stars were there yesterday, Seth Jarvis, Aho scoring, but what a night for Mackenzie McEachern and stepping into a lineup. And he talked about how nervous he was to start the game, but a goal and assist, not a bad start to, uh, in his hurricane's Jersey.

Is it fair? Shane Willis is joining us here on the Adam Goltro. Is it fair to think that I thought the assist was better than the goal? I agree with you.

I have a great view of it, but one pass to, you know, the no look to wait for intensive to see the lane, to put it on a hose stick, a phenomenal feed, but it shows. And Rod mentioned it after after the game and talking with the coaches in Chicago, of how Mackenzie was playing at the end of the year, he had a tough injury here and didn't, um, get a lot of those games in, but that's the reason why the hurricane sign up. They knew he had character. They knew he'd played for NHL games.

He's played in the playoffs for St. Louis before. Um, so to be able to turn to him, I think, allows the coach to feel a little bit more relaxed. If you can have that with putting a guy into a series like that, but what a response from Mackenzie McEachern again for this team, jumping up onto a top line with Sebastian Ajo and really fitting in seamlessly throughout that game. I mean, there's really no reason, even if Jack can come back to play, even if Jack draws back into the lineup tomorrow, there's no reason not to play McEachern with Ajo and Jarvis, right?

I agree. There's no reason to not start him there again unless something goes really sideways early on in the game, but he was great. Um, defensively sound, he played the system well, he engaged physically, um, along the boards, making things, uh, go their direction. And he talked about, he goes, I don't know what I've been doing to watch the first shift, but he goes, I completely missed the pass. Thankfully, Ronta bailed me out. I can tell you as a young guy on the ice, um, you tap your goalie every now and then when the mistakes are made, but he bounced right back and really settled in that game after that mistake mentioned in the first period. What a wonderful transition, a segue for me.

Thank you very much. Shane Willis, aunty Ronta. If I had told you that through four games, at the very least, he would be matching the guy at the other end. He might even be out playing him.

What would you have told me? I say I'll take that all day long. And I think the belief goes into that locker room of what Aunty Ronta is doing. He's just looked to me. It makes me even more excited for Aunty Ronta's team because he's made it look relatively easy. And I talked about this in game three and four, especially being on the road.

And I can tell you, anyone who's been a Nassau Coliseum knows how hostile it is in there, but this arena had a little bit of edge to it too, with the Islander fans and what they were doing in there. But Aunty Ronta looked very calm in the crease, his movements, his confidence to make save after save. And even when you look at game three, the goals that beat him for the win, tipping goals, they really have a chance to react. I'm sure if you talk to and say, well, I'd like the Matt Martin goal back, but at that point, you know, what could you do on that one as well?

But I thought last night, phenomenal, phenomenal saves. He's tracking the puck. Well, and he's just full of confidence. And I love what he's doing after the game. And Hannah Yates told me this too, when they go in the room after, you know, looking to talk to guys, Aunty Ronta stood right there and said, I'll talk after game three at the loss. He goes, I'll talk after game four. He goes, we'd love to talk again.

We'd love to talk again. So he's standing in there and he's proven himself, not that he needed to prove himself, but he's playing amazing in between the pipes for this team. All right, let me ask you about Sebastian Aho. I don't know if he was their best forward, right? I mean, I think that a lot of guys who played really well, including his line mate, Seth Jarvis. But he is the guy that has to be, he's where he's carrying a lot of weight with no Andrei Spechnikoff and no Tevo Terevinin.

And we keep forgetting because we only had him for five games and no Max Pacioretti. And with Martin Neches not being at full capacity in one way, shape or form, Sebastian's carried a lot of weight and I think he's worn it well. I was impressed with his game from start to finish. And I'm impressed with the 200 foot game that Aho puts out there.

Well, I think that's a great point right there, Adam, because Sebastian Aho is elite, not only when he's on the score sheet, which he was yesterday, but his 200 foot game is so elite of what he does and how hard he works defensively. He kills penalties. He's on the power play, really plays in every single situation.

And I think that's what people miss so often. It's too easy to sit there and be like, oh, the game's 31. How many goals did he get? Well, he didn't score, but he does so many of those little things that we hear the head coach talk about all the time of his commitment and attention to detail defensively to make sure it's done right to get his points on the offensive side and approved yesterday. He helped get the power play going early on, but I thought his speed was another level yesterday in game four, which again, the pounding the Islanders are putting on these guys continue to pick up the pace and that just has to be, you know, take the wind out of the Islander's sails, if you will, because the canes just keep coming and they're faster. We knock them down and they get right back up and they stand there. So Sebastian Aho, once again, leads the way yesterday, a great goal after the pass from the trekker, as you mentioned, he gets an assist and the power play is clicking and doing exactly what he needed to do to lead them to a victory.

All right. Final, final thing is the Islanders game plan, which is clearly to try to bully the hurricanes. Is that an admission that they can't play the game, uh, normal physicality that they can't play the game straight up because Carolina's too fast? Yeah, I think it is. I think they're trying to slow the canes down by being overly physical.

And I think it caused me a couple of areas last night, when you look at the odd man brushes of now they're taking too many steps to make the hit, right? So it's opening up other areas that the hurricanes are exposing with speed. Um, but I think now they're at a loss a little bit. Like, what are you, we're down three, one going into game five.

What do we do now? They've kind of shown all of their cards and it hasn't worked. So I think the confidence has to be strong for the canes to come out tonight. Again, the start of the games are so important, but coming into this building, uh, the life, this crowd will give them once again, uh, with the noise, this team will be ready and the smiles were on their faces last night. They had a, you start getting a little bit of swagger as you go through these games. No, we dominated that one tonight.

Um, and we'll see if the honors can match it. I'm sure they're going to come out and start the Martin line again and try and run around. But if it's into the penalty box, you make them sting, you know, you sting them early with a power play goal.

And that would, to me, if you get out too early, two more nights, series is over. I agree with you though. Well, just like let the defense play the way like that, that the, the top four defensively was as sound yesterday.

I thought as they've been in a long time, there were just no real, there were no gaffes at all. Yeah. At the end of the second period, I actually had mentioned this and then I left our, uh, reporting spot in the corner to head back to the locker room after the second, before the power play started at the end of the second period, the honors had two shots through the entire period.

Right. And that when you talk about the mannequins fee, that's the other part of their game that sticks out to me, how tight and strong defensively are when they have no room, they're not giving up any shots that far through a period where you're giving up less than eight shots, 10 shots in a period. It just shows, you know, I'll tell you doing a little other chapter in the gossip there have been good too. Um, but you, you mentioned the D to a core with the forwards, the way they shut teams down, it was very hard to generate chances against this team.

They were just awesome yesterday. Uh, as you and Hannah are Shane Willis, I'll see you at the rink tomorrow. Thank you, my friend. Thank you.