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00:003-0-5-50 is the number. Mike Schoep and the Bulldog here. The Sabres and Islanders tomorrow night.
00:04The Islanders have the Penguins tonight first at home, and then we'll make the trip here.
00:10So they're on a back-to-back.
00:12Lukanen, it sounds like the Sabres are preparing to have start the game against the Islanders,
00:19which would be two in a row for him. That has not happened since the middle of January.
00:24And even Lyon, you go back before the Olympics to his playing three in a row at one point.
00:31Lukanen was hurt.
00:32Lukanen was hurt leading into the Olympics.
00:34Right, right.
00:34So the Sabres haven't doubled up on any goalie in more than a month, almost two months.
00:42And for Lukanen, it's two games in January against Minnesota and Carolina.
00:46And they have very rarely done it at all outside of injury.
00:50Um, so the rotation has, they have been pretty, very loyal to that rotation, uh, for the season.
00:56But that does look, the signs are pointing to that ending, uh, tomorrow night, which to me is an indicator
01:03that they are probably inclined to want to lean that way when the playoffs get here.
01:08And we were talking last week, um, a lot about like just how much experimenting should be done
01:15with the roster, the lines, the deep pairs, the goalies are a part of that too.
01:20Like if you're thinking you want to have one or the other, be the main guy when the playoffs begin,
01:27well, you might want to see how they react to playing every other night for a week leading up to
01:34it.
01:35And my guess would be that this is Lukanen's quote unquote audition for that.
01:41Uh, he's played very well.
01:43The last two lion has maybe had his two most uneven games in a row all year.
01:49Like I can't remember lion having two off games in back-to-back appearances for him.
01:54Mostly if he, if he's vulnerable one night, the next night he's back and he's, he's just had an excellent
02:00year,
02:00but he's been a little rocky. Lukanen has been better and we're running out of runway here to try out
02:07whether or not one of these guys can handle it. So my guess is Lukanen goes tonight or tomorrow night.
02:13And if it goes well, I might guess he gets Thursday in Ottawa too.
02:18Like if you're going to go the all the way with this, let's, let's really go all the way with
02:22it
02:22and see what we have here. If it doesn't go well tomorrow night, then I think you're back to the
02:28rotation
02:28and then maybe lion. If he writes the ship against Ottawa, maybe he gets a turn before they run out
02:34of
02:34games. But the big takeaway to me is they're probably eager to see if one of them can do it
02:41so that they don't stay beholden to a rotation when the playoffs get here. And I don't know what
02:49the numbers would tell them about that, but hockey history tells you teams usually choose a number
02:56one goalie for a playoff run. Not always, but yes. I mean, the Sabres a long time ago
03:03alternated. Maybe more teams did that then, but yeah, this, you know, as we've been leading up to
03:08these last few games and then the playoffs, we're talking about the talking sometimes. Like I was in
03:14a conversation over the weekend about this, how football is so much more conducive to interesting
03:20conversations with, you know, play calls and run versus pass and fourth down and all the different
03:26decisions. It's really almost never about, would you have caught that? 803-0550. It's more, you know,
03:32like decisions that are made by the coach, by the quarterback in games. Whereas hockey doesn't
03:37really afford you the same luxury, you know, in our job. Like, should they have dumped it in?
03:43Right. I just like, what you do, what you do have though, is who plays. And that's what I think.
03:51And maybe this is an example of that. I don't think we've heard from anybody about this today,
03:55but still where, all right, this is, this is going to be one where fans are going to have opinions,
04:01you know, all over right now, what they should do. And I just hope that it doesn't end up being
04:09about how it, how it goes, you know, like, Oh, well, good luck with that. I know. Right. Right.
04:15I mean, looking into me is in, is in tougher than lion in that he has been here. And so
04:23I think that
04:27can it's, I mean, you just have more of a feeling of him. He's not good enough because he's been
04:33on
04:33this team that has not been good enough. And so that can't be my answer. I think that that
04:39that is sort of, that's there. You got to kind of climb up on a little step stool and look
04:45over
04:45that, I think, to try to be objective about it, but it's hard, you know, lion has not ever let
04:52you
04:52down yet. He's, he's brand new. And so even, I mean, he's familiar in that he's been in the league
04:58and that can come with its own set of biases, right? Like I'm over here waiting to tell you
05:04the last time he was hot rolling into the playoffs, he got pulled two games in and his team turned
05:10it
05:10around and went to the final. Like that was three years ago with Florida. And so that's not a very
05:15large sample size, but it's what we've got. And it sort of steers me. I admit like objectively, it
05:24sort of steers me away from wanting to hitch my wagon to lion. Right. Whereas I'm, I'm able to sort
05:30of
05:31look past Lukanen's shortcomings on teams that weren't ever anywhere near this good and say like,
05:38all right, well, this is a different, a different time. Now he's the more talented guy. Let's,
05:43let's take that out for a spin. I don't know that I'm right, but like that, my, my, the place
05:49I'm
05:49standing is that, and you can be just a couple of feet to my left and see it absolutely the
05:54opposite
05:54way. Like Luke Lukanen isn't good enough. I've got all these games I've watched and lion has better
06:00numbers this year. His goals saved above expected are better even with this recent dip. So you should
06:06do that. He's a veteran, whatever. Like there's an argument on, on both sides of it. Um, I always
06:12thought they would lean Lukanen as soon as lion gave them an opportunity. And I think that's what's
06:19happening. I think these last two games from line, he's not been a slob or anything, but I said Friday,
06:25Friday night, like he just didn't make saves. He's been making all year to give you a chance
06:31to get into the game. Instead it's three nothing and you're just chasing all night and you never
06:35really, you never got there. So, um, you know, bad timing for him, but I, I think that lends itself
06:45to the idea that they've been sort of waiting for an opportunity to kind of wedge Lukanen in the,
06:50to the front of the line. You know, I think eventually we're going to hear rough and even
06:55maybe Kekalainen talk about, I hope it happens. Like talk about why one goalie is better.
07:03I mean, it sounds a little bit like when they talk about running backs and how running backs
07:09like to say the more they get the ball, the better they feel. Right. Which, you know, okay. I mean,
07:13there's something to that, the drum beat, the rhythm. Um, but you know, rest is coveted by these
07:21teams throughout the season. It's what's behind, you know, the rotation in the first place is just
07:26not over, overdoing it with anyone. So if it is the case, whether it's about the goalies themselves
07:33or just whichever two goalies they had, they'd want to get to a point where one takes over. I wonder
07:40what they would like, how they would defend that. Yeah. Um, because again, like in this league,
07:46teams have gone away from that during the season, but not so much in the playoffs. So I'd like to
07:53know
07:53how they would explain it. I guess, you know, when I say if they lose and one of the goalies
07:58falters,
07:59that we're going to hear about how they should have done the other thing or played the other guy.
08:02And that's how that goes. But I'll, I'll say again, like I, well, it's obvious by my last point,
08:10I'm good with back and forth, you know, and I think it's interesting that they might be breaking
08:15that now off a win. Yeah. I mean, well, I mean, lion didn't win on Friday, but, um, I guess
08:22it would
08:22be off a win, wouldn't it? Yeah. I just, I think you've probably said it all wanting to get whoever
08:28it's going to be their preference, apparently, possibly to a point where he is sort of in the
08:35rhythm and lion could have easily been their preference. If Lukan and had backed up the eight,
08:41seven game with a game where he gave up five or whatever, like if he just had a bit of
08:46a slide
08:47instead of a shutout instead of a shutout, which is what, you know, and, and, you know, so I think
08:52it
08:52might just be circumstantial that I don't have to be right about them being eager to wedge him in,
08:57but I just feel like you, you look, you, you stand there. I think with all, all the objectivity
09:05you can muster and look at the two guys and watch them play, even in practice, I think you'd be
09:11like,
09:12okay, yeah, Lukanen, he's just, he's the bigger, he's the bigger guy. Like he looks more the
09:18contemporary NHL goalie lion is not super small, but he's, you know, just kind of average six,
09:24two, this sort of average size doesn't move around great. Like I don't think he's an incredible
09:30mover. He's, he's had a great year. Um, I really wonder, I was talking about this with Owen and
09:35he'd, he'd have to really fill this point out from a goalie's perspective, um, that lion in a series,
09:43I mean, they're scouting, you're always scouting, right? So you, you have a meeting every game,
09:47you know, we're, we're playing the Buffalo Sabres. Here's, here's line. Here's his,
09:51you know, here's his weaknesses. Here's how we want to attack him. Right. Um, I think you get
09:56into a playoff series and that's, I think everything is amplified. Every matchup is amplified,
10:02right? Every D pair, we want this forward group with this D pair, et cetera, et cetera. All that
10:07stuff just gets really, we want to avoid this matchup for these guys. The goalie is a big part of
10:13that too. And I wonder if they just fear that a team puts the really puts the hood up on
10:19lion
10:20that they're going to find, and maybe this, maybe they even would think they have evidence that
10:25supports this from three years ago when he got to the playoffs. That was Boston. That was three games
10:31in the first round, as you've said, and he gave up three goals in each one. There's no blowout in
10:37there. And they won the second of the three games, I think six to three, but that that's his
10:42playoff career. He played in relief in the finals in one game against Vegas. He starts the first two
10:47gets pulled in game three after giving up three goals is what I think happened there. Yeah. He
10:52definitely got pulled in a game and I don't know if they probably lost that game cause they were down
10:58three, one in that series. I think if I remember correctly, Florida, cause there's a story about
11:02how Marchand had a chance to put them away in, in a game and didn't. And then Florida roared back
11:09and won an overtime and then won the series. Um, so I think they were facing elimination at one point.
11:15So anyway, yeah, he, he, I'm sure he got pulled in game three of that. If he only played in
11:22three games.
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