- 5 days ago
Chris "Bulldog" Parker shares his thoughts on the Sabres' late 2-1 loss to Washington on Thursday night at KeyBank Center.
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00:00to the Sabres I mean that's where I want to start um last night I mean what do you want
00:07to do with
00:07last night right I mean I already got a little a little pushback as I you know put together a
00:15tweet to preview the show this afternoon and said last night was a bit of a buzz kill and the
00:21first
00:21person through in my mentions is like are our expectations so high that we have to refer to
00:27the first loss in eight games or nine games as a buzz kill I'm like well it's a buzz dent
00:32at least
00:32I mean they didn't win a ninth in a row I mean I'm not panicked about it I'm not even
00:36worried about it
00:37but it happened you know it would sound a little different if they'd won another game a ninth in a
00:42row and built or kept their lead in the division and had a chance to equal their 10 game winning
00:50streak from earlier in the season tomorrow night when they do host Toronto but they don't because
00:54they lost 2-1 uh on a late goal wasn't like a a disastrously bad game or anything but they
01:01were
01:01kind of flat in the third period looked like they ran out of gas to me um but you know
01:06again I'm
01:07inclined to kind of put that over there and just sort of dwell on what we have been enjoying for
01:14I mean I guess some of us some of us arrived at we've arrived at different times to uh the
01:19Sabres
01:19party um I was pretty much full-on believing they were going to end the drought by the time the
01:2610
01:26game win streak ended I thought there were enough good signs within how they were playing at that time
01:32that they'd make it I did not think they would catapult uh past everyone and into first place
01:39in the Atlantic and be contending for the top spot in the conference and the top seat in the playoffs
01:44and all that um but that is where we are here with them but I I do like the idea
01:51of rather than
01:52picking apart Logan Stanley and Luke Shen I will I will certainly do some of that as we go maybe
01:58even
01:58very shortly um I more would like to hear from you just on the vibes of having it back having
02:08the Sabres back in your life in a meaningful way you have been able to pick up this relationship with
02:16them if you are willing to uh and it can feel like it never stopped all you really did this
02:24is all we
02:25ever really do I think we have to learn this we have to remember this for all the the drama
02:29and
02:30however bad it feels at a given time and believe me having been in this chair for the entirety of
02:40this 14 season playoff drought I have felt every bit of the detachment and the the bitterness the
02:50anger and eventually even the lack of anger the lack of emotion that's what detachment really is I'm not
02:57I'm no longer mad at their results I'm just accepting of like this is our this is it this is
03:05what we are stuck with and therefore I'm not going to let it hurt me anymore so I don't care
03:10anymore
03:10I hope you've all gotten over that because you'd be missing out on one of the great restarts rebirths
03:19um in Buffalo sports history it's happened a few different times with the Sabres and the Bills too I
03:25mean we've had we had a 17 season playoff drought with them too and here we are you know in
03:30the
03:30throes of um you know a great generational run featuring Josh Allen um the Sabres you know it can
03:40be bumpy and it can really feel like it's not ever going to come back but when it does it
03:49reminds you
03:50I've made this point a few times this week um because we went through this in 0203 uh 0304
03:58before the the Sabres before the season-long lockout uh bankruptcy league ownership like there
04:06there were people working over there worried about whether they're gonna get paid on time
04:11like it was a it was for a pro sports league you know and a team and a pro sports
04:17league like
04:17things were really you were worrying about things if you worked there that you should never have to
04:22worry about um in in the employ of a of a of an entity that is that big and that
04:29that that big uh
04:31corporation and has all all these resources anyway 0506 comes along and as soon as the Sabres got good
04:40again we were right back there and we've been through a this has been a much longer maybe not as
04:49dramatic this drought in that there hasn't been bankruptcy you know I mean Terry Pagula has owned
04:54the team the whole time we've had stability uh as far as that piece goes there hasn't been concern
05:00about oh you know we need a new owner or I mean you might be mad at the owner from
05:06time to time for
05:06his inaction and leaving Kevin Adams on the job as long as he did but there was not ever concern
05:11I
05:12don't think really about the overall like you know is someone going to swoop in and take the team away
05:18I guess if the attendance had continued to be what it was if they never got good again that could
05:23be a
05:24problem but obviously that's all gone they have recaptured our imaginations and I just think you get
05:31so much back when you've got that you know um and I'd love to hear what you out there are
05:39appreciating
05:39the most like what is your favorite part of this Sabres resurgence right is is it going to the games
05:46is it going to the games with your children who are maybe adults now like mine who were really little
05:53kids too young to remember the last time the Sabres were good and so now you're experiencing this with
05:58them for the first time I've got that going in my house with with one of my sons um Owen
06:04who's a
06:04hockey fanatic and works on the morning show um his younger brother Leo couldn't care less about hockey
06:09so I don't have that that bond with him but I'm telling you I'm having the most fun I've ever
06:16had
06:17watching the Sabres right now when I'm watching with my kid it's just it has been so long coming
06:25and the drought really spanned I mean he didn't get really serious about the game he always he loved
06:32hockey the whole time he was playing from the time he was four or five years old and we taught
06:37him to
06:37skate um right on through when he when he finished up playing just before he turned 21 I mean he
06:42loved
06:43the game but it didn't get serious for him really until 2014-15 or even later um yeah even later
06:52than
06:52that so you know that's that's dead in the drought and so like him being someone who's into the game
07:01appreciates the game understands the game even in ways that I never have and will because he's been
07:08in locker rooms and on buses and parts of teams and he understands tactics and different things about
07:14the sport that I've never really been exposed to um watching with him now is just the best like
07:22and so share if you want 803-0550 is the number uh always time for calls when um when one
07:29of us is
07:30out so that is the case today so uh get in as soon as you get in you'll get on
07:33uh with me here at 803-0550
07:36I I just think you you have to be some of you out there have to be experiencing things similarly
07:42to myself
07:43that I know that game last night was not you know they all can't be you know they they can't
07:50all be
07:51the you know the best right I mean games like Sunday night against Tampa are gonna be rare where I
07:59mean
07:59it's just off the charts with excitement and just everything you could possibly want in a sporting
08:06event uh last night was was far from that it was a very ordinary sort of run-of-the-mill
08:11weeknight
08:12NHL game but even within it the Sabres that first period they were they were but their opportunity to
08:21win that game to me clearly was in the first period if they'd gotten two or three goals in that
08:26first
08:26period they might have cruised uh but they didn't uh the Washington goal did a good job but within
08:31within only scoring that one goal the goal that was scored that play by Malenstein he I'm mad the
08:38Sabres mad uh disappointed is better I'm disappointed the Sabres lost they didn't get their two points
08:43you know they didn't uh you know keep their four-point lead over Tampa they didn't close within two more
08:49of
08:49Carolina yada yada right the standings that's disappointing I'm as disappointed that they
08:58didn't win that game because the play that Malenstein makes for the one goal that they did score in the
09:05game would have been like a play I I want to say I would have never forgotten it and maybe
09:11I won't
09:12but it's you know it's one of 82 and it's a loss um but him on unveiling a no look
09:22backhand I mean is
09:24that Leon Dreisaitl who am I watching Malenstein with a with a behind the back no look pass across
09:32the goal mouth to Carrick for a tap-in it's back Malenstein Owen and I were like we're roaring in
09:40the
09:40living room like roaring laughing I could not believe like the the audacity of this team that
09:46they're they're fourth line banging winger and he's had these moments he had one just the other
09:52night like the the breakaway he scored on and he's he's had other ones even one against Washington
09:57earlier this year where he kind of recreated the Pommenville goal against Ottawa in game five the
10:01series winner um he's had these moments but last night was just it was just hilarious to me
10:06that he's uncorking that pass to Carrick and it's just like what can't this team do that's
10:14back Malenstein what in the world is even happening out here and because they end up losing the game
10:20I kind of feel like that'll be I don't know some version of the pass that Josh Allen threw to
10:28Stefan Diggs in the corner of the end zone in Arizona in 2020 um you know the plan I'm talking
10:34about
10:34go-ahead touchdown late uh to put the bills in front there that's what a go-ahead touchdown is
10:40and it's like this great throw this great catch and it's a play we should be talking about for the
10:46rest of the year but then Kyler Murray comes back on the field and the hail Murray is complete to
10:51DeAndre Hopkins and Arizona wins the game and this great throw and this great catch become like a
10:56footnote right the only time he gets mentioned is in a moment like this where you go like you remember
11:01some great plays that ended up not really mattering that much yeah that's one and I feel like
11:05Malenstein is going to be filed in that uh category and that's too bad because it was such a super
11:10cool
11:10play and along with that goes that sequence at the end of the first period which I haven't talked to
11:19anybody that was in there I would love to hear from anyone who was that can tell me I should
11:24have
11:24asked this on Twitter because somebody certainly would have gotten back to me with uh at least an opinion
11:28about it um but it just felt I couldn't really hear the crowd on last night's broadcast that well
11:34I don't know why it just was like an oddity to me so I couldn't really tell how loud it
11:38was but when
11:38Thompson was hammering those five consecutive one-timers on that power play at the end of the first period
11:45I thought we were at I had tears in my eyes I couldn't tell if those shots were on net
11:53or if
11:53they were uh you know wide or high or what I just was crying from laughing so hard and oh
12:02same same
12:03thing like we're just my wife had some friends over they're in the dining room wondering what in the
12:08actual F is going on in the living room because we were just hysterical as one after the other after
12:15the other after the other I I left off and after the other there um I have to think if
12:22if the third
12:23or fourth one of those had gone in the net that the building would have been in serious danger of
12:29caving in I just feel like the crowd had to be building and building and building like such an
12:34incredible moment to have and you know as it turns out they don't score there and they end up losing
12:422-1 and just like this Malenstein play to score their only goal it's kind of like a a little
12:48footnote
12:48you just sort of leave over there and it probably would have been that anyway because they didn't
12:53score a goal on the sequence um so I guess maybe I'm more disappointed they didn't score there that
12:58Thompson didn't score there or somebody didn't get a rebound or something because it was I have never
13:03seen in an NHL game or really any game for that matter but I I know I I cannot recall
13:12so I'm
13:14going to rephrase because I you know never seen is tough I've seen a lot and I therefore have
13:19forgotten a lot but I cannot recall ever having seen a player Ovechkin right from his similar spot
13:27as Thompson Thompson was a little lower I think than Ovechkin's you know legendary spot there
13:33on the power play I just have never seen a guy get teed up four times as quickly and ultimately
13:40it was five there was one more like after the power play ended I think uh that made it a
13:44total
13:44of five I just can't recall ever watching a guy get teed up that many times in that short a
13:52time span
13:52like one power play and it wasn't even like over the course of the whole two minutes it was just
13:58like
13:58this this little pocket near the end of the power play where he just they just kept letting him hammer
14:03it and so he did and it was just the funnest thing to be watching and witnessing and even Thompson
14:12looked to be laughing about it as he left the ice at the end of that shift and as the
14:18period was winding
14:18down it was just such an incredibly cool moment um you know within it
14:26when I squeeze this in um because Owen made this observation and I bet a lot of you did too
14:33uh and I wholeheartedly agree with it as cool as it was watching Thompson hammer one-timer after one-timer
14:39after one-timer after one-timer after one-timer after one-timer there I said them all um I won't
14:47do that
14:53as of the Sabres power play can be the fact that Washington was willing to just give them that
14:59I don't think those saves easy for me to say me to say I'm not I'm not Charlie Lindgren sliding
15:05from
15:06my left to my right getting in position for a 98 mile an hour one-timer from Tage Thompson but
15:13it's pretty predictable I mean it's been a part of the Sabres game plan on the power plan and absolutely
15:17should remain one but it often is the only thing they seem to be willing to spend time trying to
15:25set
15:25up and in that way it can become pretty predictable and five in a row definitely became predictable I
15:32mean I know Lindgren was honest about playing the position and was moving around but he might as well
15:37have just stayed facing to his facing Tage Thompson because the puck was going back there it seemed no
15:44matter what we're gonna we're gonna tee this up we're gonna we're gonna make this work and somewhere
15:50within that there is a a criticism to be made against the Sabres power play overall because they
15:56just do not have enough they don't have enough variety in what they're trying to do um so that was
16:04fun but it also I think um does leave a little room for you to be like oh come on
16:10can we can we find
16:12another thing we find one other thing to do uh maybe two or three would be helpful uh instead of
16:18just doing this over and over and over again but that said the criticism takes a back seat the the
16:24fun
16:25of it was just awesome to watch unfolding uh as he's just hammering those shots at the net but again
16:33ultimately didn't score and a late defensive breakdown uh leads to a 2-1 loss to Washington and you know
16:41a
16:42bummer no nine game win streak no opportunity to equal this season's earlier 10 game win streak
16:47tomorrow but a chance to get back on the right side of things with the Leafs coming into town
16:52um we saw Logan Stanley for a second game in this in this game last night paired with his old
17:00teammate
17:00and frequent partner in Winnipeg Luke Shen and I I look I appreciate the Sabres place in the standings
17:09uh I appreciate that they've got new parts that they want to try out um I'm not eager to see
17:16Logan Stanley and Luke Shen on the ice together again ever uh if it's necessitated because of
17:21injury which is mainly why at least I think Shen was acquired I think Stanley was acquired to play
17:26meaningful minutes on the third pair with Kesselring or maybe eventually Connor Timmons we'll see
17:32um how that goes um I get them wanting to like get both of these guys out there and see
17:39what we got
17:39let Shen get acclimated but um there were some misplays obviously the first goal was a misplay from
17:46Shen um to Stanley and there were a couple of other times where they kind of had a tough time
17:53in their
17:53zone um so let's uh pump the brakes on that um well you know we'll see about tomorrow and what
18:01the Sabres might think they have coming at them from Toronto maybe they'll want toughness in the
18:06form of Shen in the lineup still Stanley I don't think comes out uh but Shen really is the one
18:12that I
18:12I'm I'm watching last night going let's not let's not do this again again if we have to we have
18:19to
18:19if we're comfortable with our position in the standings and you want to get some guys some time
18:25off you know okay you know that's that's reasonable um but I I don't I don't think I need to
18:33see that
18:34pair again I don't it did not it did not go real well um so those are some thoughts on
18:40last night's
18:40game but mostly it's you know it's it's it's vibes Chuck uh is what I is what I'm after um
18:47let's
18:47squeeze um oh I can't I can't uh work the can you punch rich up here real quick before we're
18:52gonna
18:52break thank you Zach uh rich sorry about that you're on the air here on WGR well dog it's all
18:58we obviously a privilege to speak with you I've heard you since the BN days my question or not my
19:06question is you are spot on um with the power play it's more predictable than the WWE give it to
19:15Paige give it to Paige you can't do that you gotta move it around you gotta get these guys moving
19:19around and everybody uh that we play against knows if around the power play it's gonna be oh you're
19:26just a one-timer no you gotta move it around you gotta make these teams know that who's gonna get
19:32the puck who's gonna get the puck um yesterday's game was very disappointing I'm a little worried about
19:39the western trip uh I don't know too much about how their teams are in their building but this is
19:48going to be the test if we can come out of the western conference or the the four games in
19:54the
19:54west if we can get at least two then I'll be more confident about how far we're gonna go okay
20:03I'm I'm not
20:05to me they've passed every test already I don't feel like it's a test um we've talked some already
20:11this week about great Sabres teams that had very bad stretches at the end of seasons 0-5-0-6
20:18that team
20:19lost eight of nine I I'm not I'm not I'm not looking at anything like oh I gotta get this
20:25I gotta get
20:26that I got they're good I'm I'm trusting that they'll figure it out last night was a blip
20:31um the power play for sure the thing that's weird and thank you Rich for the compliment the uh the
20:37thing that's really weird before I get to break about the power play is to me how effective they
20:43are moving around the offensive zone freely at five on five this high cycle that they use all the time
20:50just the way they move around the offensive zone is so I think different than the majority of teams in
20:58the league right now and yet on the power play they're kind of stagnant and that just does not
21:03really add up to me it's it's a weird it's just a weird piece of all this that has never
21:07really added
21:08it up uh to me anyway
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