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