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00:00The playoffs, which we still only mostly know the plan for, and the NFL draft, which we
00:09hardly know the plan for as far as the Bills go, but I know what I want in terms of
00:15the
00:15Bills pretty much across the board, and as far as the Sabres schedule go, I mean, we'll
00:21write, everybody, raise your hand.
00:22We'll make it work.
00:24Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday afternoon, Sunday night.
00:27Now it's starting to sound like Sunday night, almost like they are postponing a
00:32doctor's appointment or something, like, not that it was ever official to be Saturday
00:36at 2, but I was in the arena last night, asked many times what is going to happen
00:43with the schedule, why don't we know yet?
00:45I'm like, well, we don't know yet because there are still games to go, I guess, but my
00:50guess is Saturday at 2, and, you know, I'm sure people went like, okay, Saturday at
00:542, because he would know.
00:55Well, then it's not.
00:57There's not even a Saturday at 2.
00:59There's a Saturday at 3.
01:02Ottawa, which is not, that's not Hockey Night in Canada specific.
01:06That would be Saturday night, which is the Flyers and the Penguins, so that doesn't
01:12work.
01:13I don't know.
01:14Sorry, anybody, that I was wrong.
01:17I always, you know me, like, well, if you do, you do.
01:20I know I make an effort to do this every time.
01:23When I don't know something, but I think I have an educated guess or whatever, I will
01:29want to say that.
01:30Like, just so you know, I'm not sure.
01:33But anyway, it's not even going to be 2 o'clock.
01:36It's going to be Ottawa at Carolina at 3 o'clock.
01:38I saw that on Twitter today, following along, like maybe many of you, Bruce Garriosh from
01:46Ottawa, longtime Senators beat guy, I believe, unless he's a columnist too, he probably is,
01:54saying that on his bingo card, he's going Ottawa at 3.
01:59Listen, we have to reset on bingo card, all right?
02:02What is a bingo card?
02:04A bingo card has 25 little boxes.
02:07People are using bingo card willy-nilly, completely without any sort of restrictions, any sort of
02:19thought.
02:21You don't have, on your bingo card are all the possible answers.
02:25And if it's something that isn't among any conceivable answers, then okay, well, I didn't
02:29have that on my bingo card, but your bingo card is not one thing.
02:33All right, well, I don't have to keep going on that.
02:37But it looks like Sunday at 7 is the latest speculation.
02:41An ESPN announcer tweeted that he would have the game, and that would have to be one of
02:46the night games.
02:46Not going to put the same, here I am speaking, like with, I'm some sort of authority on this,
02:51again, that has been dangerous, but they're not going to put Buffalo in like the late night
02:57Sunday spot.
02:59There's no reason to do that, as you do have Western teams.
03:03Probably 7 o'clock on Sunday.
03:05Old school.
03:07I mean, maybe the show has never sounded older, but going to Sabre games at 7 o'clock on a
03:13Sunday was like, that was the time of the week where you could, I think, mostly expect
03:19the Sabres to play at home.
03:20Rare if they, this is a long time ago, but rare if they played on the road on a Sunday
03:24night, Sunday at 7, and that might be what we get.
03:29It was, before I say this, before I get back into the Sabres, as you may have just heard,
03:35and maybe you've heard promotion for this, today, a week before the NFL Draft, is our
03:41annual NFL Draft preview show, or pre-draft special, or used to be called a mock draft special,
03:48even though we didn't do mock drafts.
03:50It's been called different things, but it is the pre-draft special, I'm going to talk
03:54to Sal today, Nate Geary, Joe, and Jeremy, all between 4 and 6.
04:00It's brought to you by your Upstate Honda dealers.
04:05For great deals, visit your local Upstate Honda dealer today.
04:09So, a lot of NFL today, and we'll get as much Sabres in along the way as we can.
04:13I'm eager to talk to Jeremy and Joe, especially, who I never get to talk to on the air, hardly,
04:19about the playoffs.
04:21So, we'll see if I can get away with mixing a little bit of that in.
04:24I was in the arena last night, as I mentioned.
04:27So were some of you, and I just loved it.
04:32The fact that they lost in the shootout was, you know, inconsequential to me, and probably
04:38to you.
04:39I wanted as much of that game as I could get.
04:42And I think that's an interesting little psychological evaluation opportunity, what you felt, how you
04:50felt about last night.
04:53I just felt I was in, I could have had a smile on my face the whole night.
04:58It was so weird, having a game like that, where there's no Darlene, there's no Thompson.
05:05I mean, also Zucker and Samuelson and McLeod.
05:08You had regulars, stars, sit for the game.
05:13So, that was like sort of in a preseason column.
05:16The game didn't matter at all in the standings, preseason.
05:20But it's also April 15th, and the playoffs are next.
05:27And everybody's got a sort of excited attitude about that, especially this year, of course,
05:33because it was so unexpected.
05:35And there's no recent baggage, there's no Bills baggage, right, where you just have
05:42like, oh, they'd better do it, or else, think about how the Bills went to the playoffs seven
05:51years in a row, and fired their coach.
05:55Just, if you can possibly put yourself back a decade and imagine that happening.
06:01I mean, I guess it would happen the way that it did, which is they just sort of bumped
06:05their head on the AFC playoff ceiling time after time, and like, okay, and then also
06:10probably some sort of fracture in their relationships.
06:15But here, with the Sabres, as we've talked about all the time, and I'm sure you sort of sense
06:19this, and maybe you have thought about it, there's none of that.
06:23There's the last 15 years, but really, like, except for in a weird way, Lindy Ruff, everybody
06:30is different.
06:31Almost even ownership, who jumped in Terry and Kim 15 years ago that season.
06:37So it's so fresh.
06:39And I feel like there's almost really, well, how do I want to put this?
06:44It would suck if they lost, but I'm just not worried about it.
06:48Not that they couldn't lose.
06:50I mean, any NHL series can go wrong, or any, you know, playoff game in football or whatever.
06:56But I'm just not, I don't expect to be really crushed if that happens against Boston, even
07:05in the first round.
07:06I don't expect to feel that way.
07:08I think what they have done is, was really important.
07:12It was, of course, long overdue that they would reclaim this relevance in the market, in the
07:19league, and I think as a fan, and you might feel this way, especially maybe if you've been
07:27going to games all these years and it's felt so lonely, to remind everybody what Buffalo
07:33is as a hockey market.
07:36I mean, there's so much you can say, and we've said it many times for many years.
07:41The Bills and Bills fans have prominently carved out this certain reputation for, I mean, being
07:54rabid fans and loyal and all the things that go with sort of the Bills fan, the reputation
08:01of the fans, the way that they're thought of, the tables and face painting and just everything
08:08out in the snow with no shirts on.
08:11All the things that, like, maybe somebody in some other part of the country thinks of
08:17quickly when they think of this fan base for football.
08:20And it's special, if not unique.
08:23I mean, it's unusual.
08:25There aren't many fan bases you would think of in the same way.
08:27Green Bay, Chicago, maybe a couple others, but Detroit plays inside and, you know, it's
08:34just a different world now.
08:35But at least to this point, maybe it'll change in the new place.
08:39There's no roof, though.
08:40Like, the Bills fans have this very special place in, not to be melodramatic, but football
08:48lore, right?
08:49But the Sabres experience, hockey fans here, it's not all the way different, but it's still
08:59also very serious and intense.
09:02And with a team like this that loses for so long, it just sort of gets lost.
09:09And maybe it's the fact that the building is half empty that is the story.
09:16Not that we're so serious about it.
09:19When I go to games, or even watch them on TV nowadays, this was, who recently?
09:25Maybe it was the Bruins when they were here last, or Dallas last night, some of these
09:29games, Columbus, anybody.
09:31Veteran players, I think about, like, during the anthem, I'll think about this.
09:35Veteran players on the other teams who might have this thought if they're not just completely
09:41immersed in, you know, the game they're about to play.
09:44Like, just wow, this is different.
09:46I thought about Tyler Myers last night, thinking about that.
09:50When he got here, it was this.
09:52You know, it was close enough to this.
09:55Teams went to the playoffs when he was playing in junior, or just sort of approaching being
10:01drafted.
10:01The Sabres were great.
10:03And it wouldn't have been such a foreign thing.
10:05But then, what happens?
10:07He ends up a part of a team that's going the wrong way, ends up being traded.
10:13And then a decade or so goes by.
10:16And now he comes back here last night on a team that's going to the playoff itself, the
10:20playoffs itself.
10:21And you've got just this incredible buzz in the building.
10:25It's just like, that's really fun for players.
10:28It's something that Buffalo should be known for when it comes to sports.
10:34Not just, and this evolves.
10:36I mean, this was different, again, 10 years ago.
10:38But not just that, where are these maniacs out at the stadium tailgating all day and,
10:44you know, whatever, good or bad, that comes with that.
10:48But it's also this.
10:50And this makes Buffalo, I think, I want to say, for an American market, maybe unique.
10:57It makes it special.
10:58Unique is one of a kind.
10:59And people misuse that word.
11:01I'm trying not to do that.
11:02But it's special.
11:04And now we get to enjoy that.
11:06And we also get to flaunt that.
11:09And here's me, well, it's water, raising a glass to the whole thing.
11:16Can't wait.
11:18Last night, nothing to lose.
11:20Like, I was starting to say it.
11:22Like, the psychological aspect of this, where, I mean, I don't know.
11:26I guess, of course, they get to the playoffs, and it's game seven, and it's overtime.
11:32I mean, I'm riveted like everybody else, and I'm dying for that.
11:36But I don't really want to feel like I'm dying, necessarily, when I'm watching a game.
11:40I loved last night, because there was nothing to lose.
11:43And the whole thing was so enjoyable.
11:46The Benson goal was so much fun.
11:50And just like that guy, and I wanted to show my wife this goal today, because she missed the game.
11:56But ended up with a highlight package that only showed, like, the goals themselves.
12:02Without showing, in this case, the entire Benson experience on that shift.
12:08Where he's going in shorthanded, and then gets taken out, and the fans boo a little bit.
12:13Like, is that a penalty?
12:14Dallas comes back.
12:15What does he do?
12:16He gets up.
12:17He busts it all the way back, then stops, or loops around as the puck bounces back outside the blue
12:23line,
12:24and he goes in again and scores.
12:25Like, he's doing Herbies within a game, and scoring a shorthanded goal on it.
12:31I just loved it.
12:32I was telling, you know, I did, you did see me throw a couple of high fives last night.
12:38I was just enjoying myself so much, as, you know, that's not me.
12:42But it did happen.
12:45And talking to people around me about that goal, like, I don't know if that's the goal of the year.
12:50It'd be a tough one to call the goal of the year in a game that didn't matter for as
12:53well as they've done.
12:55But, man, I just loved that.
12:57So, here we go.
12:59I mean, now it's going to be different.
13:00And we've been waiting, well, a decade and a half for it to be different, and it's about to be.
13:06The Sabres finish with 109 points.
13:11Three clear of Tampa and Montreal in the Atlantic Division.
13:16Tampa loses at home, didn't need the game to the Rangers.
13:19Montreal wrapped the night before.
13:20They lost, too.
13:21So, 109 ends up being the winning number.
13:24Four back of Carolina.
13:25How about all of this?
13:28We're used to, at best, talking about, as the Sabres season ends, how far away were they?
13:35In the standings and then also in terms of the roster.
13:39But that's not where I'm going here.
13:41Just like, well, how many points back?
13:43What would it have taken?
13:45Imagine, like, Washington loses with 95.
13:50They're out.
13:51I mean, they didn't even make it with 95.
13:53Vegas wins the Pacific with 95.
13:55Washington misses the playoffs in the East with 95 points, not to mention Detroit, Columbus, 92 each.
14:02Islanders, 91.
14:03I mean, those sometimes are playoff numbers, but not this time.
14:08Ottawa finishing in the second wild card and in fifth place with 99 points.
14:16That's crazy.
14:17Again, compared to the West.
14:19Los Angeles is in the playoffs.
14:22I mean, this has been pointed out, but just again, L.A. has a game tonight.
14:27Their record in regulation, so their record at the end of the third period, 22, 26, and 33.
14:37So they have played 81 games.
14:4033 of them have gone to overtime.
14:42They have 22 regulation wins.
14:45That is fewer than any team in the Eastern Conference.
14:50That is fewer than any team in the league except Vancouver, tied with Chicago.
14:58That was good enough.
15:0022 regulation wins, the Kings.
15:02It's very strange this year.
15:04East versus West.
15:06Ottawa, 99, just barely good enough.
15:09Fifth place.
15:11Who wouldn't take?
15:12Any team would take, I think, 99 points in a regular season.
15:17But this year in the Eastern Conference, it was just barely enough.
15:21Philadelphia at 98.
15:23Their regulation record is funny, too.
15:2627, 28.
15:28No, sorry.
15:29Let me start again.
15:2927, 27, and 28.
15:32That just does not look like a sports record.
15:3527, because it's sort of intuitively for me, being older, that looks like ties.
15:4227, 27, and 28.
15:44Just does not compute.
15:45But that was the Flyers' record in regulation.
15:47So that means they won 16 games in overtime or shootout.
15:52And then 12 that they lost.
15:55Crazy.
15:56Bring it on.
15:57I think, in a certain way, every team in the East can like their draw.
16:04I mean, Ottawa, as the second wild card, there's no real conversation there.
16:10If you're the last team in, you get who you get.
16:13And you can't be upset.
16:15And the Senators got Carolina.
16:16And you know, like, all right, well, they're in the playoffs.
16:18That's a win.
16:19And with a fifth-place season, you can't be greedy.
16:24You might have liked a different draw.
16:25You might have liked the Sabres instead.
16:27But they're sort of off the table for me for this.
16:30And I think Carolina, the difference between Ottawa and Boston, or even Montreal, perhaps,
16:37is not significant enough.
16:39I'm kind of with Travis on this.
16:41I don't want to obsess about Ottawa.
16:43I think if I'm Carolina, and I've had the season they've had,
16:48I'll take anybody on.
16:49You know, just, there are better draws than others, I suppose.
16:53But I'm not really too worried about it.
16:56Like, you know, you tell Carolina you get Ottawa in a best of seven.
16:59Okay.
17:00I mean, they won 53 games, Carolina.
17:02So they're probably, they're probably not bent over how it fell.
17:06I think Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have to love getting each other.
17:12I think the Penguins, I mean, the Penguins are a better team, in my opinion.
17:16And so getting Philadelphia is sweet for them.
17:20And it's a rival.
17:20So for the fans' sake, that's pretty hot.
17:23And for the Flyers, they could have done worse.
17:25They could have gotten Carolina, perhaps, or some other draw in the other division.
17:30Penguins, okay.
17:32I think they would both be, I mean, I don't have my dream of teams picking their respective opponents.
17:40But I think if we did it that way, it might come out, depending on the order.
17:45I mean, I feel like it might come out the same or really not that.
17:50It's just, I think everybody is probably feeling pretty good about who they got.
17:54Tampa getting Montreal.
17:55I think Tampa's probably fine with that.
17:57What were their other possibilities?
17:59The Sabres.
18:00I mean, it could have been the Bruins.
18:02But Montreal, I'm thinking about Bulldog on this.
18:05By the way, he's not here.
18:07I should tell you that at some point.
18:09I meant to.
18:12His talking about Montreal and just like, well, there's one great line and then who knows.
18:18And I think the Lightning, who seems super cocky to begin with, could, they'd be fine with that.
18:24I mean, they'd take that matchup.
18:26I think they'd probably take any matchup, but okay.
18:30Canadians against the Lightning, I mean, they've beaten them recently.
18:33They've played close games.
18:34They tied in the standings, each having 106 points.
18:36They can't be upset.
18:38I don't think Montreal would have been probably bothered by any outcome.
18:42Sabres, Lightning, whoever.
18:44So, I think they're probably fine.
18:46And then you have our series.
18:48And as I said yesterday, I think the Sabres and Bruins are probably both fine to have each other.
18:54I'm sure, well, you know, thinking about the fans more than the players, but I think we're all pretty happy
19:01with how it fell.
19:02Mostly.
19:03Could have been Ottawa.
19:05Could have been Tampa.
19:06Could have been Montreal.
19:07Boston, of the different possible outcomes since it wasn't going to be a team from the other division.
19:13Great.
19:14There's nostalgia with it too.
19:16Home ice.
19:16Great.
19:18But I have to say, I think the Bruins would feel the same way.
19:21Drawing the Sabres, it could have been harder.
19:23They just, you know, Carolina, Tampa, it could have been harder for Boston.
19:28So, I think everybody's happy, I would say, in the Eastern Conference.
19:32And, I mean, I just can't wait for it.
19:34You're probably the same way.
19:34We might have to wait until Sunday instead of Saturday by how it seems today.
19:39But I think I've got it in me.
19:41Do you?
19:41We can wait another day.
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