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00:00Have you started to think about the playoff beards yet?
00:03There are a lot of baby faces on the Sabres.
00:06Lukainen has a little bit of a beard going,
00:09but I can't promise you that that hasn't been there.
00:11I don't know.
00:12I think maybe it's new.
00:13I've never noticed on him.
00:15Paul, I mean, not to put you in a spot where, like, I don't know.
00:18I don't want to, you know.
00:20Again, I'm not assuming you're paying attention to this.
00:22We don't want to make it weird, Paul.
00:23But you've got a couple of veterans here who have the beard,
00:27and, like, talk Zucker, they're sort of like, all right, we're the dudes here.
00:32Playoff, although they could probably, you know, they could have to start over,
00:36but that's not going to happen.
00:37But I wonder about the young guys,
00:38if they might be trying to kind of cheat it a little bit by a few days.
00:43Well, Benson might be the only one that might have a problem.
00:45The rest of them, I think, are in Ostland.
00:49Other than that, I think most of them could probably handle it.
00:52I took off the playoff hair today, my first haircut in four months.
00:56So, oof, I'm due.
00:58Good for you.
00:59Darlene Thompson, we have no idea.
01:01Like, we've never seen them with facial hair.
01:03Anything could happen.
01:04I know.
01:05I'm just right now trying to, like, draw a beard on Tage Thompson,
01:11and it's not going well in my head.
01:13Like, I just, I don't, I do not like the image of him with a, I don't know.
01:18It's going to be weird.
01:19I will predict he will not take part.
01:21Really?
01:23Wow.
01:23Yeah.
01:23Don't players all have to take part?
01:25That's a, they're not winning anything, Paul.
01:27No.
01:29You're saying, I just don't think he would believe in that stuff.
01:31Okay.
01:32I could be wrong, but I just, I don't think he, he'd be superstitious that way.
01:37Maybe, but I don't know.
01:38There's not pressure within a team to try it, at least?
01:41Right.
01:41Like, are there guys who really, like, I'm just going to shave, I don't care?
01:44That's what you're saying.
01:45Yeah, the players are so much different than they used to be.
01:48Yeah, there would have been a lot of peer pressure back in Rob Ray's era or something like that,
01:51but now players are coddled and everything, and I don't know.
01:55I don't think there'd be any peer pressure, but I don't know.
01:59I could be wrong.
02:00Yeah.
02:00I hope you are, because as much as I'm uncomfortable envisioning, I could be wrong.
02:05Just the image I'm getting in my head could be not accurate.
02:08I don't know.
02:08I don't know, but Thompson with a beard, Owen Power with a beard, like, these are
02:12I remember, these are difficult.
02:14Owen Power might have a problem.
02:15Like, I can use myself as an example.
02:18I don't, I shave once every two days.
02:19I don't have to shave every day.
02:21And I'm a few years older than these guys are, so sometimes you just don't have to shave.
02:27Right.
02:28Remember Breer and Max?
02:30Like, everybody did it on those teams.
02:32I know it's a long time ago, too, but.
02:33Max, did he do it?
02:34I don't think Max did it.
02:36I think so.
02:37I mean, it was a feeble attack.
02:39I had to go back and look at his overtime goal.
02:41I'd be shocked if he had a beard on it.
02:42Yeah, I don't remember him with a beard either.
02:45Breer, I can see, kind of a scraggly, like, patchy, like.
02:49That's all it would be.
02:50Like a little kid trying to grow a beard, is what I think it looked like, which I think
02:54you have the potential for maybe a lot of that on this team.
02:56I don't think Killeenan had one.
02:57That's right.
02:58I don't remember him with a beard.
03:01Okay, well, I look forward to what we get.
03:04Yeah.
03:04What we got last night, Paul, is a 37-save shutout from a goalie that had not started
03:09in months.
03:11Yeah.
03:11One thing with him, though, I had assumed, and I talked about this with a bunch of people
03:17yesterday.
03:18Maybe you guys, I don't remember.
03:21He had the relief performance in Washington, and I thought that would, that's, he was
03:27rusty, there's no question, and Lindy Ruff admitted that, too, that he was.
03:31But, you know, he played 50 minutes or so, more than 50 minutes in that game.
03:36So, I thought that kind of would get the rust out of him, because he's a pretty, he's been
03:39pretty good this year at keeping himself ready.
03:43But, I think this is the longest stretch he went without starting a game.
03:48And, so, yeah, I wasn't extremely concerned that, with him starting, as far as him being
03:55rusty, because I thought, you know, he had gotten that off.
03:58And Lindy Ruff has told us, and I can see it when I'm around, he does work extremely hard.
04:02Lindy Ruff said he's the first one there almost every day.
04:05I love the attitude that he has, and it's so sincere.
04:08He's like, I just appreciate the opportunity that I'm getting here, whatever it might be.
04:16Whether it's playing in games, whether it's practicing, being with the NHL team, being
04:20around the guys, learning from the guys.
04:24He just, he's very appreciative that the Sabres brought him to the organization, brought him
04:31to the National Hockey League.
04:32And, however it works out, however many games he gets, he's not going to complain.
04:37He has not complained once this year.
04:38He always has a smile on his face.
04:40You never see him moping around.
04:44And, you know, he's just, when he's called upon, it's like, great, I get to play.
04:48Cool.
04:49Let's go play.
04:49Yeah.
04:50I mean, I think, I want to absolutely applaud all of that.
04:55Because that is what you would hope a guy, even though, you know, he's not like a fresh
05:01face new guy to pro hockey.
05:03He spent a lot of time in the minors.
05:06To take the opportunity, just to, Lindy mentioned yesterday after the game, Paul, that he's always
05:11out late.
05:12Anybody wants a goalie, like he's the guy.
05:14And that's the role of that guy.
05:15That guy should not get to say, sorry, I got an appointment to go, you know, whatever.
05:20It's like, you know, somebody who's recovering from injury or is not playing wants to work
05:24on something.
05:25That's the guy.
05:27And what you're getting out of that, if you're him, even if you're not playing is the opportunity
05:32to work with NHL players on a day-to-day basis and get extra ice and just hone in on
05:38the things
05:39that you need to work on.
05:40And I don't know, I don't want to make too much out of one game, Paul, but aside from
05:46that one stretch where he lost the mask and looked like he caught his heel in the ice or
05:50something and sort of fell over awkwardly in the second period, which was, you know, almost
05:56a disaster.
05:56I admit he was the most in control.
05:59I feel like I've seen him in a game and I want to hope anyway, that that's evidence of
06:06the work he's been putting in, that he's learning how to handle playing with, you know, against
06:11and with NHL players.
06:13For me, it was the first rush up the ice and I, he got an uh-oh from me.
06:19He went down awkwardly to try to make a save and the player, whoever it was, didn't shoot.
06:24He went around the net.
06:25Had he shot, he would have scored because Ellis was totally messed up.
06:29He, he, he had already left the post and he was awkward and I, oh, uh-oh.
06:35So, and that's probably the only time all night I did that.
06:38Yeah.
06:38After that, I said to myself, he looks really quick tonight, up and down, over.
06:44I mean, that's as quick as I've seen him.
06:46He looked fast.
06:47He looked confident.
06:49He didn't get shook up at all by the chaos around the crease and there was quite a bit
06:54of it and that didn't seem to faze him.
06:57He just fought through it and would stick an arm out, get a leg out, whatever it might
07:01have been, uh, to make a save.
07:04He, yeah, they hit a crossbar, they hit a post, very, very, uh, bang, bang type of
07:09a play.
07:10I always say too, and I don't know if you're, if, uh, your goalie would agree with this.
07:17Sometimes I think players hit the post or the crossbar because the goalie played it
07:22so well that there's no place to go with the puck.
07:24Yeah.
07:24If you're looking for daylight and you know, the only daylight is, you know, to the left
07:29of the glove and that's the post, that's a good job by the goalie.
07:31I think, yeah.
07:33Right.
07:33So I don't know, you know, I always, you know, when it's a post or crossbar, I always
07:36wonder, well, is it because there's nothing to shoot at or just the luck of the draw type
07:41of a thing?
07:41And you never know.
07:42Right.
07:43But, uh, yeah, I, I, I agree.
07:45I just thought, you know, how quick he was and everything and you could see it pretty early.
07:50Um, and you know, he had to make some good saves.
07:53I mean, yeah, the Sabres defended the lead till they finally started scoring some goals,
07:57but, uh, they did it too.
07:59Like I was, they had like 52 shot attempts after two periods.
08:04And then I looked, I think 15 of them are wide.
08:07The Sabres had blocked double figures by that, maybe 13.
08:11And, uh, I thought, okay, yeah.
08:13And, and, and in the second period, twice a Sabre defenseman got caught on the ice.
08:18The, the two defensemen, uh, Samuelson had a, I believe a two minute 45 second shift, almost
08:24a three minute shift.
08:25Good to God.
08:25And that's when the post to the crossbar all came into play.
08:28And, and it was big schmozzle all over the place and you got guys pretty much dying out
08:33there on their hands and knees, but they, they, you know, Ellis made the saves.
08:38They somehow got through it and there was two different times that happened.
08:41And I think that's where the shot totals went up quite a bit, shot attempts and shots,
08:46uh, because the Sabres were, it was a long, they did get the puck out once.
08:51And I think the center of the wing got off, but the defenseman had no chance to get off
08:56and back in, they came, uh, and they were shooting from everywhere.
09:00They knew they had the Sabres on the rope.
09:02So it was just like, let's keep shooting.
09:03Right.
09:03This kid's a rookie.
09:05The defense can't even stand up anymore.
09:07Let's go.
09:08And they, they kept the puck out of the net though.
09:10You know, I, I think it's only the kind of thing you could have guessed at before seeing
09:15the evidence of it last night, Paul, but the final few minutes of this game, final few
09:20seconds of this game, the, the amount of desperation with a four nothing or five, five
09:25nothing lead, excuse me, that they had to block shots and try to preserve that kid's
09:31shutout said so much about what they think of him.
09:34I think, well, look at how much Norris don't talk and Malenstein enjoyed making that kid
09:42come out for a curtain call.
09:43Right.
09:43And when they got them out there, I think they almost broke their sticks.
09:46They were, they were slapping the ice so hard.
09:48I saw talk definitely and they just had smiles from ear to ear.
09:54It was almost like they were enjoying the kid's shutout more than he was.
09:58And they made him come out and the fans honored him and everything.
10:01And that's, that's the way they are.
10:03I mean, they're, they're, they're a good group together.
10:05There's some good guys and he, he is a good guy just talking to him.
10:09You can tell he's brought up the right way, you know, and it's nice to see good guys succeed.
10:15You know, I've seen some people in that locker room who are not nice people and, you know,
10:21it's just whatever.
10:22They have a pretty good group here overall that are, that care about each other, that
10:30are good people and brought up the right way.
10:34I think Doan would be somebody in that category who came up in a hockey family and you can tell
10:39he was brought up the right way.
10:41And, uh, they, that that's one thing I will say.
10:44It just seems like it's a group that, uh, really enjoys being around each other.
10:49Well, it's funny.
10:49You mentioned that after referencing Bulldog's son, the irony, uh, is rich, you know, we'll
10:55defer to at O and P 29 on this one, but I'll ask my daughter, the center, what she thinks
11:00about that goalpost point.
11:01She is competing today, by the way, in the world's largest girls hockey tournament.
11:07Oh, really?
11:07She didn't tell me that that was what this is.
11:09Well, the Ontario provincials, because there are so many teams and leagues and places and
11:16girls is like, technically I read that, uh, only a handful of teams make it to today, but
11:23her team won for Brock Badgers and she scored.
11:25And so far, so good.
11:26Paul Hamilton on no judgment, you know, here, I don't need any rebuttal on how she's been
11:34raised, whether she's from a good family.
11:37Well, Paul, how about this though, as further, as further evidence, Paul, you've been to
11:42my house, you know what it's like over there, you know, no more commentary needed.
11:46Um, the, um, the Quinn goal, another example, I made this point already earlier, but I'll
11:52make it again with you.
11:53Um, Quinn scores his 20th goal of the year to make it for nothing and, or no, that was
12:00three, nothing, excuse me.
12:01Cause the dome, the second dome goal made it for, and there's no, I mean, he's happy of
12:07course, but there's no, I just scored smash into the glass.
12:11Look at me.
12:11Look at me.
12:12He, he cannot wait to point at a guy that's been on the team for a month.
12:15Yeah.
12:16Stanley.
12:17And I just, I love that as much as anything that happened last night.
12:21Yeah, no, absolutely.
12:23That again, that's the way he is.
12:24You know, he, I see him do that quite often.
12:27He will always defer.
12:28All right.
12:28I scored, but I scored because of this guy.
12:31This guy is the reason I got the puck, you know, and he's, he's always like that.
12:36Even when you talk to him in the locker room, he always defers to his line mates.
12:39And that's why, you know, I had him in the pregame yesterday and we talked about his
12:43line mates a lot.
12:44Yeah.
12:44You know, what have you learned from Zucker and having him on your line?
12:48Because he's been on a line with those, when Lindy Ruff shuffles lines, for whatever reason,
12:52he does not touch that line.
12:53He usually keeps it together and the other three lines get shuffled.
12:57And then McLeod, we, we talked to him, you know, about him too.
13:02So he, he enjoys being on that line.
13:04And well, I think the reason that line stays together is they work well together.
13:08And, um, you know, Lindy, Lindy Ruff likes the way they work in both ends of the ice.
13:13So, um, yeah, it's something that Quinn does quite a bit.
13:18Let's talk about Zach Benson next.
13:20Um, what from your inside perspective has been kind of the evolution of him in three years?
13:27So young, still only 20, but has carved out this really special role on, you know, well,
13:35a team with 106 points and two games left, and he's no small part of it.
13:40What's been sort of your, what have your eyeballs said on him as a, as a teammate?
13:46Uh, I don't know, like how that's maybe changed or evolved in the last couple of years or this
13:50year alone.
13:51Um, and he seems to have found a home on that line and with hip, it seems like he finds
13:57a
13:57home on any, that's what I was just going to say.
13:59I think he, he, I think he will elevate almost anybody he plays with.
14:03And now that he's with, you know, all of a sudden Norris is starting to pick up points.
14:07Benson is starting to pick up points.
14:09It's not that his play has changed, but the points are starting to add up for him.
14:14You know, I'm just looking right now.
14:16He has four points in his last three games with a couple of goals against the Rangers
14:19and you go maybe three or four more games.
14:22And he had a four game point streak, not a pretty quick, uh, before that, where he had
14:26six points and he wasn't picking up points.
14:29He was very effective in what he was doing, but he wasn't picking up points, but he always
14:36wins the battles no matter what.
14:38I mean, why did, why was he able to pass to Doan for these goals?
14:42Because he's there sticking his nose in there and just, he has the desire to win every single
14:49battle.
14:50And he has to have the desire to win every single battle because he's never going to be
14:54bigger than the guy he's battling with.
14:57Uh, it's just, unless he's battling with Ostland, but other than that, I mean, he's not going
15:03to be, but he's winning the battles, almost all of them because he just has the tenacity and
15:10the willpower and everything that I am winning this battle, no matter what I am winning this
15:16battle.
15:16And then he wins it.
15:17And next thing you know, don't pops open or Norris pots open and they get the puck and
15:21bang, it's in the net.
15:23And it's, it's just as simple as that.
15:25Look at, look at the tip and goal.
15:26He had Darlene banked it in off of him because he, he, uh, bigger defenseman.
15:31He goes to the net, he spins away that now he's there.
15:35Darlene sees him there and just takes the puck and banks it off his shin pad.
15:40Uh, and where is he?
15:42He's standing in the crease and winning the battle he's available, you know, and, and
15:46just that's, it's, it's, it's amazing.
15:49Somebody, his size wins the amount of battles that he does.
15:53And it's just from sheer, sheer desire that I'm winning this battle and you're not.
15:58So is there anything more to say about like his standing with the other players?
16:02I was wondering about like, that's what I'm asking is like, he's the butt of some, I mean,
16:06Zucker made a joke about him on national TV on Monday.
16:09We've seen the clip.
16:10I don't know if everyone out there has seen it.
16:11The clip of Paige Thompson.
16:13This is like months old now saying he's the stupidest teammate I've ever had.
16:17But like all of that is with affection.
16:19I am quite sure.
16:21Oh, they kill him in the locker room.
16:22It is hilarious.
16:24I mean, I, he, he was coming off injury.
16:26And of course the media is all around him and it was Zucker and Norris and Darlene and
16:32a couple more were in there lying and the, the locker room just shut down.
16:38It was totally silent for this.
16:41And they're just sitting there looking at him and, and we're at, and somebody asked him
16:46about, well, you really couldn't be on the ice, but did you spend a lot of time in the
16:49weight room?
16:50And he goes, oh, you should have seen it.
16:51He goes, I am so much stronger now.
16:54Look at these muscles.
16:55And Zucker lost his mind.
16:57He went absolutely crazy as did Darlene.
17:01They all did the, the, the, him and the ha and the screaming and everything.
17:05It was just hilarious.
17:07And Zucker goes after him and he goes after Kulik like all the time.
17:11Kulik said one day, he goes, I think I was afraid of him.
17:14Paul, like you, you've been around a lot of teams.
17:17It's just all year.
17:19Not maybe not all year, but so often sounded and winning is maybe what you need for this.
17:24But just like these stories and these interviews where you can tell that the, the, the, the
17:31bonding and you know, it's an interesting mix for this.
17:35Did, is there something that, I mean, there must've been something they got right, whether
17:39that goes back to Kevin, Kevin Adams or what, but the chemistry is so interesting.
17:44Yeah.
17:44They spend time together and they're not afraid to have hard conversations.
17:48Like I think the best thing that happened to this team was Thompson getting hit last year
17:54and nobody going to his defense because they all sat down and had some hard conversations
18:00and said some things that needed to be said, but were hard to hear.
18:05And they've been different ever since, you know, it's almost like that turned the team
18:10around that.
18:11And now that now they're totally the other way.
18:16And, uh, you know, the, and I, I sat down with Benson the other day to do an interview
18:21and we chatted for a while and I was asking about Zucker and I said, I'm in here.
18:26I see how much of a hard time he gives you, but I said, what's it like to be like,
18:32right,
18:32you know, two lockers from him in the locker room.
18:35And he said, it's great.
18:36He goes, I can sit at lunch and talk to him and learn so much hockey, you know, about being
18:43around the net, this, that, the other thing he goes, it's, it's so great to have him around
18:49to do that.
18:50And, and, and, and of course to keep things light, you know, he's the guy that does keep
18:54things light.
18:55I mean, what you saw on TV is what I see in the locker room almost on a daily basis.
19:00I mean, it's, he, he will keep things light, but he is honest with these guys, but yet,
19:06and also T, you know, he has a lot of experience in this league, as you all well know.
19:11And he has, and he's more than willing to share with these guys and Kulik will speak the world
19:16of them and say how much he's learned from them.
19:18So will Benson.
19:19Paul, before we wrap up, do you have any update at all?
19:23I know there was nothing today and I doubt it came up in post game yesterday.
19:27Where is no, where's Ausland at?
19:31It's well, the reason we're not asking about him, it's like when you see him, he'll be ready.
19:35Okay.
19:36Because Lindy Ruff said he can walk in tomorrow and be ready.
19:39He goes, I can't tell you.
19:41He said, it's the type of injury that we just don't know.
19:44It's going to end when it's going to end.
19:46It could be tomorrow.
19:47It could be a week from now.
19:49Who knows?
19:50And it's, it's been a couple of weeks now.
19:52So, you know, they just, there hasn't been, it's, it's one of those things that it just,
19:57they, they, they can't pinpoint as far as a time when it'll be done.
20:01It'll be done when it'll be done.
20:03I don't, I don't think he has what Kulik has, but I'm comparing it to what Kulik's.
20:07I mean, he, it was, when was the blood clot going to dissolve?
20:12Well, when the body lets it dissolve.
20:14Yeah.
20:14They didn't know if he'd be able to play this year or not.
20:18And it turned out he wasn't able to, but they didn't know that.
20:22And whatever it is that Auslin's fighting, they just don't know when it's going to be done.
20:26Have they put a designation on the injury at all, upper or lower or nothing?
20:30It's a, it's a, it's an, I believe it's an upper body injury.
20:35Okay.
20:35I was going to say mid body, but I think it's an upper body injury.
20:39Thank you for not saying mid body.
20:40We want to, we want to keep going here.
20:42You did, but now.
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