The Canes’ attack is almost entirely through their blue line, but that doesn’t play through a whole playoff run. Last year, no Cane other than Vincent Trochek had more than two goals against the Rangers, and he’s gone. Two years ago no one had more than one goal in five games against the Bolts. Same story in 2019.

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The Canes have tried to huff the old hockey axiom that it’s the ultimate team game, and a team has simply roll four lines without much dropoff. But it’s hard to maintain depth in a salary-cap league without sacrificing something. The Canes have sacrificed true sharpness at both ends for their precious depth. And they keep eating it to teams that get inspirational performances in net and with someone with playoff flair scoring against them.

It’s not easy to find those players, but if the Canes want to do more than be cannon fodder in rounds two or three, they’d better figure it out.

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This Nikola Jokic shot encapsulates the Nuggets-Lakers series

I wouldn’t imagine that it’s often you can encapsulate an entire series in the NBA playoffs in one shot, but Nikola Jokic isn’t really concerned with what’s normal:

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While LeBron James could summon his old self for the first half to try and be defiant against a sweep, it clearly took just about everything out of him as he spent most of the second half watching or settling or limping. And Jokic simply provides too much for too many teammates. This shot is just how powerless the Lakers were to do anything about it all series, and as soon as it went in you could sense that the whole arena knew they were boned. Sometimes, that DUDE is just too powerful to plan for or counter.

Dodgers reverse course, re-invite Pride Night guest

Nice to know that shaming can work both ways sometimes:

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While it’s still sad that the Dodgers had to be coerced into doing this, at least they got there. Maybe the added attention will be a bigger bullhorn for the Sisters’ overall message and cause. There certainly will be louder voices in protest both onsite at Dodger Stadium and online, you can be sure. But any victory tolerance and acceptance gets is worth noting.


Follow Sam on Twitter @Felsgate.