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Billy Lindsay Talks Florida Panthers Trying to 3-Peat, Tampa Bay Lightning Fights and Anton Lundell
WQAM-AM / AM 560 Sports WQAM
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1 week ago
Florida Panthers Radio Analyst Billy Lindsay joins the show "in the midst of greatness!" Billy expresses how much focus will be on Anton Lundell, preseason fights with the Lightning, and more analysis of the Cats!
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00:00
The great Billy Lindsey joining us here on the program.
00:04
Billy, happy to have you, man.
00:05
How are you?
00:07
Yeah, doing really good.
00:08
Getting ready to go tonight and kick off this brand new season.
00:12
Let's see how it gets started and get rocking and rolling.
00:15
Am I upside down here?
00:17
Yeah, your camera's flipped.
00:20
Hold on one second.
00:21
One second.
00:22
I don't know.
00:22
Get that situated.
00:24
How's that?
00:25
No, you just flipped it.
00:27
Now you're upside down.
00:29
One more way.
00:29
Go all the way around.
00:31
This is still the wrong way.
00:32
There we go.
00:34
Hey, we got you, Billy.
00:37
I'm perfect.
00:38
I just love technology.
00:40
I'll figure it out one day.
00:41
Let's go.
00:41
All right.
00:41
Let's start off.
00:42
What was the first question again?
00:43
We'll start from the top.
00:45
Hey, man.
00:45
How exciting is this right now?
00:47
Just, you know, you've been around this organization so damn long.
00:50
This is obviously insanity, just how cool this is.
00:54
Ring night last night.
00:55
Just all the festivities that are going on.
00:57
I mean, just what are you just your thoughts about where the franchise is at right now going
01:02
into a chance to three-peat?
01:04
Staggering what they've been able to accomplish for the last three years.
01:07
Win the Stanley Cup back-to-back.
01:09
Ninth team to do that in NHL history.
01:12
And now they're approaching one year at one time and win at one time, but now going there
01:17
three straight years, hoisting the Cup on back-to-back occasions.
01:22
That brings you into the story and limelight of one of the all-time great teams.
01:28
You're starting to push those boundaries.
01:29
You're starting to get into that conversation.
01:31
If you were even able to get to there another one, a fourth in a row and win three in a row,
01:37
then you're talking about dynasties, especially in the salary cap era with this Florida Panther
01:43
team.
01:43
It starts with ownership down, with the commitment, the group, the players, but it's been staggering.
01:47
And being around that ring ceremony last night, we're in the midst of greatness here with
01:54
this Florida Panther franchise.
01:56
And I don't throw that word around lightly, but yes, they are in greatness territory as far
02:03
as one of the best teams in NHL history.
02:05
Billy, one of the things that amazes me about this team is you may be able to keep up with
02:12
them with your first line because everybody's first line has great players, but you go to
02:17
the second, third, and fourth line, and this team seems to get stronger and more dominant
02:24
the farther along you go into the roster.
02:29
Have you ever seen another team that was like this?
02:33
Because usually teams, when I hear of great teams, it's like, oh, you go that first and
02:38
second line and they're untouchable, but you might be able to make some way in the third
02:44
and fourth lines.
02:45
Yeah.
02:45
You'll see with great teams over the years, that's usually the separator.
02:49
Actually, if you look back, it's always that third and fourth lines.
02:52
You mentioned everyone has great players up front, but how good is your third line?
02:56
And last year, if you took it into the playoffs, I don't know if we had a top line.
03:00
Everyone thinks with Barkoff and Reinhardt being up top, that's our top line.
03:05
But the way that Marchand comes on board with Luos Dreenan and Lundell, the way they're able
03:10
to play Bennett, Kachuk, and that group, they just roll along.
03:14
It seems like every night that out of our top nine, our top three lines, anyone could be
03:20
a top line on a different occasion.
03:22
Our fourth line goes out.
03:23
They hit everything in sight, they scare the crap out of you, and they can play, and they
03:29
provide a lot of energy, which is just really exciting.
03:33
And so that's where this team was able to kind of push with that Marchand trade coming on
03:37
board, is that there just wasn't a matchup, and he talked about it.
03:41
Stay with us for 20 minutes, okay?
03:44
Stay with us for 40.
03:45
But it's a battle of attrition.
03:47
If this Panther team was on the top of their game, could you stay with us for 16 minutes?
03:52
Sometimes the answer was yes, but over a seven-game series, it definitely was no.
03:58
And when this team needed to come up with the goods, like a big statement game, game seven
04:03
in Toronto on the road, it was a beatdown.
04:07
There was nothing left behind.
04:09
And greatness can be summed up as, can you perform the best under the most critical situation
04:16
at the hardest times against really high-quality opponents?
04:21
And the answer for this Panther team was resoundingly yes, yes, and yes every time.
04:27
And teams just could not find a way to combat that over a seven-game series.
04:31
Maybe there's nobody more spoiled on this team than Anton Lundell with how much success
04:35
he's had at his age in this already.
04:38
But he said, like, you know, in the lead-up to the season, like, he's expecting even more
04:42
of himself.
04:43
Everybody calls him baby Barky.
04:45
Like, do you see even more of a step-up from Anton Lundell in responsibility and production
04:50
of what they may need from him at this age?
04:52
Well, there's going to be a step-up for sure because of the Barkoff injury being out at
04:56
the start of the year, and they're going to have to evaluate.
04:59
But Lundell is going to get more power play opportunity than he ever has, which is good.
05:05
He's a fabulous penalty killer.
05:07
He's been able to develop.
05:09
You talk about all the playoff experience the Stanley Cup brings at a young age.
05:13
He's going to continue to grow, but this is the year that they're looking for some more
05:16
offensive output.
05:18
With the Barkoff injury down, I believe he can get up into that 25 goals.
05:22
Low territory, 60 to 70 points.
05:25
If he's able to do that and play that high-quality defense, like you say, Barkoff, the baby Barkoff,
05:31
he plays both ends of the rink extremely well.
05:34
But if he's able to take another jump offensively, continue to do all the other stuff and grow,
05:40
this is going to help offset that Barkoff injury somewhat.
05:44
So there's going to be a lot of focus on Anton Lundell and his ability to produce throughout
05:49
the course of this year.
05:50
What did you think of all the craziness that happened this weekend with Tampa?
05:55
That was insane, Billy.
05:57
Come on.
05:57
That brought me back to my training camp days.
06:00
Games used to take five hours, and there was 20 fights.
06:05
Just going off.
06:07
We took the mantle from the throne from Tampa Bay, and that's the beautiful thing of winning
06:11
Stanley Cups.
06:12
Because before, when you're not winning and you're losing, you don't have any rivalries.
06:18
Now that you've won some Stanley Cups and you battled through it with Tampa Bay, that's
06:22
definitely a rivalry.
06:23
We've seen it get heated there in the preseason.
06:25
You've got a huge rivalry with Toronto.
06:27
The same thing with Boston, Carolina.
06:31
You just all go into different matchups.
06:33
There's a lot of dislike towards the Panthers, and you hate us if you ain't us right now.
06:38
And that's just the basic saying.
06:40
It goes out there, and you can see a lot of teams.
06:42
They're going to come after you.
06:43
They're going to test you because Tampa definitely wants what they had back.
06:47
And a lot of these teams that figure that they want to be part and top of the East, they're
06:51
going to come after the Panthers with everything they've got.
06:53
So what you saw there in those regular preseason games, you're going to see a lot of that here
06:59
throughout the course of this regular season, where they're going to try and test the Panthers.
07:04
And there'll be no backing down from the Panthers.
07:07
That's what you come to expect.
07:08
And this team handles adversity very well.
07:11
But that was a lot of shenanigans for some preseason games.
07:14
Billy, did you know something was up when you couldn't recognize that one name on the
07:17
ice?
07:18
Yeah.
07:18
So Tampa Bay brought up six players from the American Hockey League that had already been
07:28
sent down, brought them up for that game.
07:29
Right.
07:30
They figured in five of the six misconducts and all the penalties.
07:34
What do those kids got to lose?
07:36
If there's a mantra out there, just go hit everything in sight, trying to destroy everything.
07:40
You're still going back to the minors afterwards.
07:43
And what are they going to find you, $12?
07:44
Because you're not making no big money.
07:46
No money, yes.
07:47
Right.
07:47
So one of those guys, J.J. Moser, a defenseman, did get hit.
07:52
He's got a couple games suspension.
07:53
And the coach, John Cooper, I believe it was a significant amount of money that was sent
07:59
to him, the organization.
08:01
So they did have to shell out some bucks for what happened in that game, did Tampa Bay.
08:05
But they're looking at it as, hey, we'll just dress a bunch of kids and send them out
08:10
there and just go let them loose on the Panthers, which I don't totally agree with.
08:18
But that's what it is.
08:19
And that's the way John Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning decided to go about that business
08:23
last couple of evenings ago.
08:26
Have you ever had a situation like that?
08:27
First of all, it's odd to me, being from a different sport, that you would play a team like Tampa
08:35
in the preseason.
08:37
But hockey's a little bit different.
08:39
And then to see, like, they're basically ordering a code red.
08:45
Like, they're bringing guys in.
08:48
All their stars are on the bench.
08:51
And they're bringing all these guys in.
08:53
And did anybody on the Panther side raise an eyebrow and say, watch out for the funny business
08:58
because something's going to happen?
09:00
You know what?
09:01
Yeah, all this funny business, all this toughness, if you want to bring it around in October,
09:05
let's see what you got in April.
09:06
Right.
09:06
When it matters, the last couple of times in the playoffs, it hasn't, that kind of pushback
09:11
from the Tampa Bay Lightning hasn't been there.
09:14
The Panthers, no.
09:15
It's preseason.
09:16
We'll be able to get there.
09:17
But when the rubber meets the road in the postseason, can you do that same sort of thing?
09:21
The Panthers, yes, they can.
09:23
Have I seen that?
09:24
Yes.
09:24
Back in my day, it happened all the time.
09:26
There used to be a training camp and preseason was much different.
09:30
It was just bloodbaths, fights every single night and just trying to survive preseason.
09:35
It's changed a lot, but that was a bit of a throwback.
09:39
And they do play Tampa Bay just because logistically, it's a lot easier during the preseason to save
09:44
and cut down on travel costs and the wear and tear on the body.
09:48
But it's done.
09:49
It's put away.
09:50
Back door and forget about the past.
09:52
Let's move forward.
09:53
Same thing with Paul Maurice, what they've talked about is the past is nice, but we're focused
09:58
on this year and trying to do something that just hasn't been done recently, and that is
10:04
win that third Stanley Cup.
10:05
So they're not going to worry about anything and just move forward and focus on what has
10:09
to happen next.
10:10
Appreciate it.
10:11
Billy, Lindsay, joining us.
10:12
You guys can hear him.
10:12
And Doug Plagans on the call tonight right here on FM 104.3 WQM.
10:15
Five o'clock puck drop from Amherst Bank Arena.
10:18
Billy, imagine you're going to get the Gooseys.
10:19
I know we did it last year, but you imagine when that banner goes up there, you're going
10:22
to get the Gooseys again?
10:23
Oh, yeah.
10:24
Yeah, it comes back.
10:25
It's just to be in the midst of this, it's going to feel pretty good to see what this
10:29
team and just never thought we'd be there after the first one and to be able to get
10:33
back there and defending back-to-back Stanley Cup champions is just going to be really hard
10:38
to hear and listen to all year and to kind of adjust.
10:41
But this team's earned it.
10:42
They really have.
10:44
Yeah, you pay money to go watch this team?
10:46
Yeah, it's well-deserved because this team does not try.
10:50
They do.
10:51
Trying is, I'll try and go to the gym or I'll do my best to go to the gym.
10:55
Those are two different things.
10:57
I'll try and play my best hockey or I'll do my best.
10:59
This team, every time they put their foot on their ice, they do their best.
11:04
Affirmly.
11:05
This is a team that does not try.
11:07
They do.
11:08
So, come out tonight again and that's putting that best foot forward and starting off against
11:13
the Chicago Blackhawks.
11:14
Hopefully, Chicago Blackhawks.
11:17
It'll be exciting and raise the banner and let's go another 82-game tilt, 82-game season
11:23
and we're off.
11:26
Appreciate the time, Billy.
11:26
Thanks so much.
11:27
Thanks, Billy.
11:28
Have a great day, guys.
11:29
Appreciate it.
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