- 7 weeks ago
Mike Schopp and Chris "Bulldog" Parker are joined by WGR Sabres beat reporter Paul Hamilton to discuss how the team should put together its third defensive pairing in the final stretch of the regular season.
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00:00Well, good luck on that for us.
00:01I'm rooting for you, Paul.
00:02Me too.
00:02We need you out there, Paul.
00:03We want you to be with this team on these trips when it's going as well as it's going.
00:08If you subscribe to the station in certain ways, you get an email every day.
00:12This is what we were talking about or writing about.
00:16And this latest one I got from WGR today includes the headline,
00:21Are the Sabres Still in Good Form?
00:23This might take me to a conversation, Paul, involving yourself.
00:27What's your answer to that?
00:28I mean, it's a win Saturday and then the loss to Washington before.
00:32Would you say they are still in good form?
00:34They got back to it third period against Toronto.
00:38They took Toronto 11 minutes and 41 seconds to get their first shot.
00:43They stopped turning the puck over, the Sabres, I mean.
00:47And, you know, we're killing plays.
00:49We're playing great D.
00:50I think they gave up two shots the whole period.
00:53The first shot was a great A, but Lyon made a great save on it.
00:57But that was the Sabres we'd been used to seeing for the past couple of months.
01:01Just, you know, have the lead.
01:03At the time, it was tied.
01:05Just, you know, don't give them anything and wait for your opportunity.
01:10And in this particular case, opportunity came in the shootout.
01:14So, that was more what we've been used to seeing is what we saw in the third period after, I
01:21would say,
01:21probably four games of turning the puck over and playing a little wild, a lot more wild than they had
01:27been playing.
01:28And I guess we learned on Saturday night that when the Leafs are this bad, this late in the year,
01:33that maybe some of those fans aren't going to make the trip, Paul, because it was the most pro-Buffalo
01:39Sabre Leaf game in many years.
01:42Their flights were all canceled.
01:44I could tell right away, like, when we were waiting for the Leafs to come on the ice,
01:50usually that's 30, 35, 40 rows deep where they come out.
01:55Yep.
01:56Up next to the glass, it was maybe five rows deep for this.
01:59I was like, said to Brian, where is everybody?
02:02Yeah.
02:02I said, usually this is mobbed in Leaf fans.
02:06People were in the building.
02:07It was a sellout, and I didn't see too many empty seats.
02:10But every time the Go Leaf got going, the Sabre fans drowned him out immediately.
02:16Their goaltender, Wool, said this is the first time in his career he has ever come to Buffalo,
02:21and it wasn't a home game for Toronto.
02:23He said, give the Sabre fans credit.
02:26He goes, it was their building for once.
02:27And he goes, it's the first time I've ever been in here where it's been their building.
02:31Well, long time coming, so at least, and we're done with that for the year.
02:35Toronto does not come here again, nor do the Sabres go there.
02:37They're done with the Leafs for the season.
02:41No Matthews, too, by the way.
02:43Right, right.
02:43So they, and Paul, it wasn't, we talked about this on Friday, like, I didn't know what to expect.
02:48I thought at least I'd get, like, the staged fight to start the game, or maybe a lot more than
02:54that,
02:54because the Leafs had spent the preceding 24 hours basically getting slogged for not responding
02:59when Matthews got cheap-shotted by one of the most notorious cheap-shot artists in league history,
03:04by the way, who does it matters, too.
03:08But there really wasn't much in the way of that.
03:11I mean, the Leafs just kind of wanted to get through the game, it seemed like.
03:14Well, there were a couple of fights.
03:16That's right.
03:17Shen fought.
03:18That's right.
03:18But it wasn't, it didn't look like they were trying to prove a point, I guess, is what I'm saying.
03:23It was early that the couple of fights came, maybe when they were trying to prove a point,
03:26and then they got away from it.
03:27They got back to being the Leafs.
03:30Well, they head out on this trip, Paul, and I think the big question,
03:34not to give us credit for talking about the thing that most Sabre fans are thinking the most about right
03:39now,
03:39but I feel like the decor and the makeup of the decor is really going to be interesting to follow
03:46here
03:46for the next, well, they've got 15 games left.
03:50Ruff sounds like he's not willing or looking to take Mezza out of the lineup with how he sounded Saturday
03:56night.
03:56He's played like he deserves to be in.
03:57And you've said similarly the last few times we've talked about him.
04:02I know Stanley and Shen are together because there was an injury, and, you know, that probably isn't in the
04:08cards.
04:09But how do you think they will end up handling the decor overall?
04:13Like, will Mezza get maybe a more elevated role, and they'll space the top four out a little bit?
04:18What do you think they're going to do with the D moving forward?
04:22They should, but practice did not tell me that that's what they're going to do.
04:26Practice told me that Stanley and Shen are going to stay in the lineup, and Mezza will not,
04:33because it looks like Samuelson has a pretty good chance of being back.
04:37And Mezza did a fine job filling in, playing with Darlene, had the most minutes he has played all season
04:44or in his NHL career, and didn't get scored on, hasn't been scored on since October.
04:52He has been on the ice for 19 goals, four and two against, and both were in October.
05:01And Lindy Ruff said, you know, I kind of thought they might send him down to hang out with the
05:07Amherst
05:07until they needed him or something like that, but he said, no, he's earned the right to be here.
05:11And he said, we're going to address the lineup that we think is going to give us the best chance
05:15to win.
05:16I said, does that include him?
05:17He goes, absolutely it could.
05:20And in my mind, it should.
05:22To me, he's their number five defenseman.
05:25I put him ahead of all those guys.
05:28And Timmons, Kesselring, Shen, Stanley, all of them.
05:34And to me, he'd be in my lineup every night, and then you could alternate the number six guy if
05:39you wanted to,
05:40or if you wanted Stanley in because you might start a riot every game, you're fine.
05:46Have him play with Metza, and that's your pair, and the rest of them wait until there's an injury or
05:52something.
05:53So, you know, that's how I would do it, but I'm not getting the impression that's how Lindy Ruff's going
06:00to do it.
06:00Where would you slot Timmons in all this?
06:02He's been out a long time.
06:05They miss him on the penalty kill.
06:06He's a really, really good penalty killer.
06:09He was a shot-blocking machine.
06:12Never really turned the puck over penalty killing, but five-on-five, he turned it over a lot.
06:17His five-on-five was totally different than his penalty kill, which, again, makes me, all right.
06:24You know, I probably would have him ahead of Shen, probably.
06:33Kesselring, I know he's playing injured.
06:35He said so himself.
06:38I have seen some better games out of him, but still, you know, you can tell he's not 100%.
06:46So, I guess if I was going to say, all right, dress your best six, I guess my third pair
06:53would be Stanley and Metza.
06:55I wonder if we'll get that, when we'll get it.
07:00I wonder if it maybe waits until even the playoffs get here, Paul.
07:04I mean, I'm just really curious to see how they dole that out.
07:07The thing that I think, and please correct me if I'm mistaken here, but I don't think Metza plays any
07:13special teams, right?
07:15I mean, he's outranked on the power play for sure, obviously, by Power and Dahlien and probably even Byram, too,
07:20for that matter.
07:22So, if they wanted to go three deep on a D-man there, and occasionally they've used Power and Byram
07:27as a pair on that second power play unit.
07:30But nonetheless, he's not doing that, and he's not killing penalties for you, and maybe that makes it tough to
07:37keep him in if you're going to shelter him,
07:39and he's not giving you anything on either of the special teams units.
07:43Look, he certainly can kill penalties.
07:45At least I just think they like the guys that they have doing it, because they're doing a really good
07:49job of it, for the most part.
07:52So, I think, you know, they just like him.
07:54But he could, definitely.
07:56I mean, I think he would do a fine job if he had the opportunity, just because of the way
08:01he plays.
08:02You know, he doesn't get himself into trouble, and he doesn't put the puck in places that gets him in
08:07trouble.
08:08And that's why he plays so well.
08:10So, you know, I think he could if called upon, but you're right, that hasn't been something that Wendy Ruff
08:18has called upon him to do.
08:20And he played 15 minutes just fine the other night when he was with Darlene for a lot of the
08:25time.
08:26He doesn't need to only play eight minutes, but that's how they get the ice time up on the other
08:30four.
08:31Because when, like, Metz is dressed with Kesselring, Metz and Kesselring never play together.
08:36Like, Metz doesn't play a shift on the left defense.
08:38He doesn't work.
08:40So, what happens is when each one gets a shift, one might go out with Darlene.
08:46Then the next one goes out with Byram.
08:47And then they sit for a while.
08:49And then, all right, it's time to give them a shift.
08:51And one of them comes out with Darlene.
08:54And that's kind of the way they've done it.
08:57Now, when the third pair was a lefty-righty, when it was Bryson-Metza, they would come out together.
09:02And I thought, quite honestly, Bryson was having his best year and Metza was Metza.
09:07So, that's the reason why they would play as a pair.
09:10But with two righties, they haven't.
09:12How much time do you think is reasonable to give any of these guys?
09:16Stanley, I guess, is the one that I'm most curious about, Paul.
09:19Because I think he was the one acquired with the most expectation.
09:24You know, like, I sort of feel like from talking to you and just following it and knowing these players'
09:30careers,
09:30I feel like they got Stanley to be a third pair mean guy, cross-check people, you know, be physical,
09:35use his length, all that.
09:37Hard to play against.
09:39And Shen's a spare part with experience.
09:41So, if you need to lean on him, hopefully you can get through it.
09:45But, like, I don't feel like he really figures in prominently if they're all healthy.
09:50Stanley, I think, does.
09:53How long do you think it should take him to sort of acclimate and sort of find someone,
09:59whether it's eventually Timmons or Kesselring or Metza, like you're saying,
10:03that they can have some chemistry with and feel like the coaching staff can trust them?
10:10To be fair, I thought the two of them were a little bit better as the game went on against
10:14Toronto.
10:15Of course, they had that big turnover that tied the game at one right in front of the net.
10:20And they probably had to start their careers in Buffalo, probably went together maybe four and a half,
10:28really, really tough periods.
10:30And then I thought they improved.
10:33You know, maybe about the middle of the second period on from that point.
10:38And the third period, again, they weren't turning the puck over.
10:41They weren't stressed in their own zone or any of that kind of stuff.
10:46So, it seemed like – and Lindy Ruff said the way the Sabres play is different from the way the
10:51Jets play.
10:52So, he said he's got to kind of get the Jets game out of them and the Sabres game into
10:56them a little bit.
10:58And so, that's how Lindy Ruff explains it and maybe the reason that they've had problems in his mind.
11:04Only their fourth shootout of the year and their first in three months, almost, late December, was their last shootout.
11:11And they've won them all.
11:13And it's been three different goalies.
11:15Heard the name Colton Ellis today.
11:17I'm like, oh, yeah, still a part of this thing.
11:20And Quinn really –
11:21Do you realize –
11:21Go ahead.
11:22In Lyon's case, do you realize he's only led in three shootout goals in his career?
11:27Didn't know that.
11:28I mean, is there a lot of –
11:29Entire career.
11:30Is there a lot of –
11:31It's 14-17.
11:33That's crazy.
11:35Six and one this year.
11:36One goal against him.
11:38Lucan in 5-0.
11:39Stopped five or, you know, no goal anyway.
11:41Sometimes shots go wide.
11:43So, Quinn is the one.
11:45Three.
11:45Had the hat trick, of course, last week.
11:47And then shootout goal against the Leafs.
11:50He's three.
11:51And a power play goal against the Leafs.
11:52And a power play goal.
11:53Three for four on the year in shootouts.
11:55What's his secret?
11:57He's money.
11:58I mean, it's just –
11:59He has so much confidence when he gets to certain spots in front of a goaltender.
12:04And he doesn't –
12:05You know, five on five, he's trying to get there.
12:08But he doesn't always get there.
12:09But when he does, he's money.
12:10That's when he just rips the shot by.
12:13And Lindy Ruff explained it a little bit.
12:15He kind of said to me, he goes, well, did you ask him?
12:18I go, yeah.
12:19He goes, well, what did you say?
12:20And I told him.
12:21And then Lindy Ruff kind of explained a little bit that, you know, Quinn does, you know,
12:25watch the goaltenders and for a couple of shootouts where he's been successful,
12:29he's gone to the blocker side and over the blocker.
12:33So now he's going to anticipate the goaltenders who watch film of him,
12:38they know that's what he's done for the past two or three shootouts.
12:41So what does he do?
12:43He goes under the blocker, you know, and scores the goal, knowing that that's what they –
12:47So it's almost like point-counterpoint.
12:50It's like, okay, you know, I've shown the goaltenders this a little bit.
12:54They scout two.
12:55So they're going to probably be expecting me to do this.
12:58So I'm going to switch it up a little bit.
13:00And, you know, and he just has that pinpoint shot when he gets in there
13:05and is able to score.
13:07Thompson's percentage isn't all that great.
13:09But Lindy Ruff, you will lead off with him usually, let him go,
13:13and then let Quinn go second.
13:14And he said Tuck likes to go third, so he lets him go third.
13:18The only thing about it, he goes, the problem with Tuck going third
13:22is sometimes he doesn't get to shoot.
13:24That's possible.
13:24So he said – and then Ostland would have been fourth
13:27because Ostland in Rochester was really good at it,
13:31and he put on a really sweet move, the first NHL one he got.
13:37It was a really, really good move.
13:39And the second one, the goaltender, I believe, Polk checked him,
13:41and he wasn't expecting it.
13:43But Ostland probably would have gone fourth.
13:46He just said it was between him and Norris to go fourth
13:49if that would have come up.
13:51Norris has a shootout goal this year for them himself.
13:54Some interesting team shootout stats.
13:56Sabres 4-0, New Jersey is 4-0, Anaheim is 8-0 in shootouts,
14:02which is why they've been in first place.
14:03I'm not sure if they are right now,
14:05but they went to the top of a really tight division
14:07on the strength of winning every one of their eight shootouts.
14:11They're a point ahead of Vegas and two ahead of Edmonton.
14:15Rangers 3-0, Ottawa 3-0 in shootouts.
14:19Utah has not had a shootout, 0-0.
14:23So the Sabres should go to a shootout against Anaheim on Sunday.
14:26That should be exciting.
14:27And break the tie.
14:28And Pittsburgh is 1-10.
14:32Wow.
14:33That's interesting.
14:34And they're still in the playoff spot.
14:35I mean, it's 10 loser points or whatever.
14:37Right, right.
14:381-10, if you split those, they were in really good shape.
14:41Remember, Yager basically refused to take shootouts after a while?
14:44Yes, right.
14:44He just wasn't good at it, and he just said,
14:47have somebody else do it.
14:48There's no point.
14:49Well, I have to mention Jeff Skinner here,
14:52because he's maybe gone a decade.
14:55He was really bad for the Sabres,
14:57and people would be, why isn't Skinner shooting?
14:59If you look at his percentage,
15:01it's like, other than the guys who are 0-1,
15:04it is just not good.
15:05It's not his thing.
15:07I always wondered if it was, like, the policy after a while.
15:11It's just like, not in his contract necessarily,
15:13but there's an understanding here.
15:17And then I always wanted that we had to bet, Joe and I,
15:19on whether he would ever take another one,
15:21even on another team.
15:22And it hasn't happened.
15:23Is he still playing?
15:25He got waived.
15:26He's not caught on anywhere, I don't think.
15:27He's nowhere.
15:28Yeah, the Sharks waived him to release him,
15:30and he did not catch on before the trade deadline.
15:33Man, I'm just going to have to settle up with Joe
15:35across the board here and just get a few of those bets.
15:37Yeah, Skinner's career might be over.
15:40Yeah.
15:42No, Bulldog and I talked about this earlier, Paul.
15:45Lying another win after the loss to Washington with Lucanen, 2-1.
15:49No reason to change the rotation here, right?
15:52No, I don't think so.
15:53I mean, typical hockey.
15:57Lucanen lets in seven and wins,
15:59and then he lets in two as a great game and loses.
16:02I mean, it's just crazy.
16:05But Lindy Ruff talked about it, too, and I agree with him.
16:08In the seven goals, he said his teammates were awful around him.
16:12He goes, five of them, nobody's stopping.
16:14He goes, if you want to argue about one or two of them
16:18that maybe can get a big save, maybe.
16:20But he said the other five, he goes, I'm not blaming him at all.
16:23He goes, I actually wanted to keep him in the fight
16:26because his team was fighting to win that game.
16:29And he goes, I wanted him to fight.
16:30And he goes, he did.
16:32He goes, I liked the fight I saw in him.
16:34And then he came back with a really good game against Washington.
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