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00:00Just took a walk. That's usually good. It can't be bad.
00:06Because sometimes I have an idea that I'm not proud of.
00:10You want the other one? Let's do the other one.
00:13Okay.
00:15Sustainability.
00:16You know, setting this up, Game 2 is tonight.
00:20I'm not trying to rush anybody here.
00:22Earlier in the show we got a call from a fan who talked about how he thought
00:26the Sabres' future looks so bright.
00:30And I don't think I want to fight against that.
00:33I don't know how I would do it.
00:35How would you fight against it?
00:36Unless it's sort of an organizational laziness that returns.
00:42This is big that that doesn't happen now.
00:45However this ends.
00:48So they're plenty young.
00:50They're not only young, right?
00:51I mean, their top forwards are not young, young.
00:56They're middle to older.
00:58Sure, there's a case to be made to not give Alex Tuck an eight-year,
01:02$90 million contract.
01:04There sure is.
01:05That's another one I don't need to do right now.
01:07That's right.
01:08We'll worry when we get there.
01:10Let's just see what happens here.
01:12But no, like, Thompson's their most important guy up there.
01:17And he's, you know, he's in his prime, but he's, you know, he's into it already.
01:22He's not just getting there.
01:23He didn't just hit the beach.
01:25Like, he's been this guy for, what, four seasons now?
01:29And so already late 20s.
01:32Like, there's, you know, there's five high-level years left, max, I would say,
01:37with a guy like that.
01:39But, yeah, I would say that's generous.
01:41Max is right.
01:42Yeah.
01:43You know?
01:43He'll be 29 in October.
01:44Right.
01:45You get to early 30s, and if you're still, you know, scoring 40 goals a year,
01:50you've had a career.
01:53You know, provided you started doing it early enough, and I think he qualifies.
01:57But he was not right out of the box.
01:59Like Thompson also.
02:00That's right.
02:00That's right.
02:00It took a few years for him to launch.
02:03Yeah, and a second organization to get there.
02:05But, no, right, but, you know, really, I think the sustainability point
02:10that the caller meter, like, he wanted to point out to us something he likes
02:15about this is that it doesn't feel like just a one-and-done.
02:18And, like, I don't know, there could be more clues that would point to that
02:24that you would still want to ignore when you're in the throes of what we're in.
02:29I don't think there are, right?
02:31I do think it points to being more sustainable than not.
02:36But right now is not a time you'd want to believe that what you're seeing is you
02:41can believe in it, that it is going to last.
02:44Because if you didn't, you wouldn't – for me, I wouldn't like their chances to
02:50make noise in these playoffs if I didn't believe in the sustainability of the team.
02:54Like, you know, I think they've got a good group.
02:57They've bought in.
02:58They're defending together.
03:00They are just giving everything they've got regularly enough to have the incredible
03:06run that they've had since early December.
03:10That, to me, as long as you keep doing that, then this is sustainable.
03:14Some of the names and faces will change.
03:16But if you've got a core group of players who know that what the formula is,
03:24then you should be able to just keep doing that for at least some amount of time here
03:29and have this not be a fluke.
03:31It's one of the reasons why I think if you're worried about them going out early
03:36is because you might take that – and I don't think this would be right to do,
03:39but you could take it as a sign that something isn't right here, right?
03:43That they were more lucky than they are good on balance this whole year.
03:49And I just don't believe that.
03:50I mean, I think watching this team and reading about this team and knowing –
03:55you know, again, every analytic doesn't favor them.
03:58But there's enough good there that I think that they've got their hands around
04:02how to play in this version of the NHL.
04:078-0-3, 0-5-50, game two tonight.
04:09Right.
04:11It's another area where I just so don't want to rush it.
04:16This is another thing that's coming back after 15 years is I want to be in the present, as they
04:23say.
04:24Like, imagine – I'm thinking of somebody in their car right now going to the game.
04:28Oh, what again?
04:29What kind of contract is Zucker on?
04:31Like, it's completely not where your head is.
04:34Right.
04:35So, I mean, it's worth talking about.
04:38But one thing about all this to not get ahead of myself in thinking about it
04:46is what those talking points will be after round one or whenever it ends.
04:53If it's – I mean, if it's a cup, it's a cup.
04:55If it's not what went wrong, you know, like that's usually what we do.
05:00With the Bills, this has been tough to pin down the last five years.
05:07Like, what are they missing?
05:09Is there an intangible piece that they're missing?
05:12Is it game management?
05:14Is it just pass rush?
05:16Like, what is it that they lack?
05:18And enough time goes by where you kind of have to give in.
05:23Maybe you don't have to, but it's easy to give in to the idea that there is something.
05:29There is something that isn't right.
05:32And I guess I feel that I mostly got forced into that with the Bills, you know.
05:36And then the coaching change is made.
05:38And I'm like, okay, well, really, that's that then.
05:42But, you know, the Sabres looked really good in the opener.
05:46They could have lost it.
05:47They're playing a team that's beatable.
05:50Ottawa's down two games, but everybody liked Ottawa more, right,
05:53in the regular season than Boston.
05:55We liked Philadelphia less.
05:57They're up 2-0 in their series, for what it's worth.
05:59Didn't want Tampa.
06:00Didn't want Montreal.
06:01Not that that was everybody.
06:02But you could have a tough series here and even lose it and end up there,
06:10which is like, all right, what was missing?
06:13And that would probably be what the Sabres themselves would do.
06:17It's tough, though, when you're talking about 82 games and then six.
06:20Right.
06:21Like, it's really, it's a trap in sports, I think, to do that.
06:25The regular season is so much longer, and then you play one team for two weeks
06:30and draw big conclusions.
06:32I think you'd want to not have to do that.
06:35So, please win.
06:36So, we don't have to do that.
06:37We can avoid that.
06:39Yeah.
06:39Yeah.
06:40Well, I'm encouraged by the way, obviously, I mean, the way the game unfolded,
06:45just emotionally for the fan base, people who were there, even if you weren't,
06:49Canal Side, wherever you were at watching.
06:52I mean, you got, like, the full dose of what it can be like
06:57and what it can feel like and all that.
07:00But, and so, you know, full marks, like, giving the fans the experience.
07:08I think when it's so emotional like that, it can be pretty easy to kind of overlook,
07:14well, what did they do exactly?
07:16Like, how did they do it?
07:17And I think it's pretty notable that the three goals that they scored to, you know,
07:22take the lead as quickly as they did there was, for all the talk this year, from me,
07:28I mean, I don't need a lot of people doing it, but I'm certainly at the front of the line.
07:32The high cycle and the D and all that, this was behind the net and out,
07:39I'm coming out with the puck, right?
07:41It's Krebs and Thompson on the first goal.
07:44On the second goal, it's Tuck and Thompson.
07:46So, Thompson is physically, for all the talk about his hands
07:49and all this incredible talent he's got in this 6'7 package that he is,
07:56he's just, you couldn't get the puck off him.
08:00He got a bounce.
08:01Sure.
08:02Behind the line, he went back there, because it was one on two, I think, with Tuck, right?
08:06And Thompson goes back there, helps dig it out,
08:09and then the puck bounces back to him as he's coming back around outside the line,
08:14and he's got that opening.
08:15Right.
08:16But still.
08:16It's work.
08:17It's a grunt goal.
08:19And all three of them were.
08:20I mean, they had the benefit of the guy Lindholm, I think, broke his stick on the third goal.
08:25So, he's supposed to retrieve it, his stick falls apart,
08:28and now I've got McLeod and Quinn on the scene, and Quinn makes the pass.
08:32But again, it's four checking in the corner.
08:34I'm coming out with the puck on all three of those goals.
08:38So, kind of the antithesis of the river hockey and the high cycle and the D men floating.
08:43I mean, they were still doing that in the game, but the goals came,
08:48and I don't think this is any accident.
08:49I think you should look at the Bruins' decor.
08:53Yes, McAvoy is excellent.
08:55To me, Zdorov is, he's a player I think I'd like on my team,
08:59but I would want to manage his minutes kind of the way the Sabres manage the minutes of Logan Stanley.
09:04Zdorov is not a good, you can expose him.
09:07He is maybe the closest to, like, a Raph G or a Hatcher that there is in this series.
09:13He might be old enough now.
09:14He moves better than those guys did then, but comparatively speaking, like, he's not fleet of foot.
09:20So, he's a bit of a throwback, you know, in that way.
09:24You can work their D, and then that's how they got their goals, was just working them.
09:28Not out high, but down there.
09:30And I don't think that was accidental.
09:33You know, I think the Sabres would be right to recognize, like, we can exploit them down there.
09:37Let's just stay, and they just stayed with it and stayed with it, and they, you know, got paid off.
09:42I think that bodes well.
09:43Like, that they didn't need to play the game that they're known for this year.
09:50It really, it was just an old school, get it behind them, because, you know, Boston's clogging up passing lanes,
09:56and they're doing a good job mucking the game up.
09:59So, you got to go out muck them.
10:01So, chip it in behind them and go mess around with those D-men, and you're going to get some
10:05takeaways.
10:06Here's Mike with us.
10:07Hi, Mike.
10:08Hey, guys.
10:09I love the talk.
10:12One of the things, what I love so much about this team right now is you've got four first-round
10:18draft picks that aren't even in this lineup.
10:22You know, you've got Kulic, you've got Osland, you've got Hellenius, and you've got the big defenseman who was the
10:27first-round pick this year.
10:29I mean, that really bodes well for this team, because, you know, you've got high-end talent.
10:34You've got four really good defensemen that are, and, you know, maybe eight defensemen.
10:41Maybe this kid can come in next year and get some limited minutes and get the NHL.
10:45But the future of this team, if you lose Tuck, you also have $10 million to spend.
10:53So, I just, I love the way that this team has been built.
10:59It turns out, I didn't like them six months ago, but looking at it now retrospectively, it's just, it's so
11:07nice to see the talent that they have coming up that doesn't make me afraid that this is a one
11:15-and-done or a two-and-done.
11:17This team could be around for a long time.
11:20Yeah, I guess I have to confess again that I'm just not, my head is not in that space right
11:26now with the future.
11:27It all makes sense, where guys are going to slot in and who's going, and is my goaltending going to
11:33be as good?
11:34Just different variables.
11:36I don't want to think about them yet, because I want to be on tonight.
11:41But sure, it's certainly a conversation.
11:43There are, by the way, 14 first-round picks on this roster.
11:49And that's probably not insane for the NHL, because most guys, you know, it's very much a top-heavy draft.
11:57Even if they don't hit with their original team, Tage Thompson, as an example, was not a high pick, right,
12:03like 17th, 16th?
12:0426th.
12:0526th, okay, pretty late, as it turns out.
12:07But still, that's a first-round pick.
12:09Right.
12:09Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of guys like that that are on their, you know, second or third team,
12:14even, that would have been first-round picks.
12:16Reverse alphabetical order, Tuck, Minnesota, 18th overall.
12:22Thompson, St. Louis, 26th overall.
12:25Stanley, 18th overall for Winnipeg.
12:27Shen, 2008, 5th overall.
12:31Pretty high, yeah.
12:32Jack Quinn, Sabres pick, 8th overall.
12:34Owen Power, 101.
12:34Tanner Pearson was a first-round pick of the Kings in 2012, pick 30.
12:41Ausland at 16.
12:42Norris by the Sharks at 19 in 2017.
12:47Why did he go reverse?
12:48I tend to go reverse.
12:50Kulik is 28 in 2022.
12:52Krebs, Vegas.
12:5417.
12:54Eicheltrade, 17.
12:57Darlene, 101.
12:58Byram, 104 for the Avs.
13:00And then Benson at pick 13.
13:04So, sure.
13:05There's certainly no easy argument against it.
13:09Like, it's not an old team.
13:10It's not a team with a bunch of UFAs.
13:12Like, they are not that.
13:14So, it's not, that's not an argument I'd want to make.
13:17Like, that it can't last.
13:20Does it have to?
13:21Are they that good?
13:23What I, here's what that makes me think about.
13:25You can say it.
13:27But, like the caller, like yourself earlier, like just, you know, you can, you can be in
13:31a happy place when it comes to the, the roster going forward.
13:35Will they spend that 10 million bucks?
13:37You know, like that's not, I don't know.
13:38I wouldn't assume it.
13:40But, you know, hopefully.
13:41If Tuck were to leave.
13:43I feel like what this is, though, that I'm more inclined to think about is that they
13:49could win right now.
13:50Right.
13:51Like, I was never experienced guy.
13:54And I never was about this team either.
13:57I didn't care that they were going to have less experience.
14:00We could still prop, you know, crop up, I guess.
14:03And I'll maybe have to eat my words.
14:04But, in game one, they got tested by the scoreboard.
14:11And that's an easy game to get frustrated in.
14:14And who knows what the players' thoughts are.
14:16Is they're sitting on the bench during timeouts and the crowd goes quiet.
14:20Because it's 2-0 and fans are going, oh my God, I waited for this and this is what we
14:24got.
14:24I mean, just, like, it would be, it's good on them to not get down.
14:30And, I mean, I think that's even a better outcome for them is to have gone through that
14:34game.
14:35And so.
14:36They got, their power play got booed.
14:38Their power play got booed.
14:39In the second period of this game.
14:41The first play, I mean, that happened.
14:45I just, I mean, go win right now.
14:48This is also 0-6.
14:49Go win right now.
14:50Right.
14:51And it could happen.
14:54That's as good a reason as any to not really be worried about anything that we've been
14:58talking about for the last 20 minutes, which is really where you started when it first
15:01came up.
15:01Well, I had that other thought.
15:02Which is, you know, right, right here.
15:04Like this, because I mean, I, I, I think that's all right to say.
15:09Like it is not.
15:12I don't know.
15:12Like anything that's in the tournament.
15:14If you believe the East is wide open, then Boston should be sitting around thinking we
15:19could win the cup this year.
15:20And maybe some of them are maybe fans.
15:23I mean, not the players, of course.
15:25We go win a game tonight and then just, you know, we're going back home and we're in
15:29it.
15:31But the conference all year, as competitive as the Atlantic was, there's no, I don't
15:39think Tampa is worlds better than you.
15:41Are they a better team because of their experience and their goalies pedigree and his resume?
15:47It's really about resume.
15:48And yes, any team that's been in it and has won multiple cups like Tampa and Colorado's
15:53a cup winning team out West, like their resumes are going to, are going to, Edmonton's resume
15:57blows your resume out of the water.
15:59They've been in the finals the last two years in a row.
16:03So wide open is, you know, in maybe some finger quotes to some extent, but there's not
16:08a team that you didn't just squeeze in at 92 points.
16:13I mean, 92 points is not even in the playoffs in this conference this year.
16:16Boston at 98.
16:17So yeah, any, any team that's here, like Buffalo has looked all year to me, like a
16:24team that could win it.
16:25Not all year, but since like January, whenever Tuck said it, like we're here to win the cup.
16:31We're not just trying to squeeze in or however he said it back in January.
16:34I think that was, it was right to say it.
16:38It was just well enough into it all happening to not make it, not make it laughable.
16:45Right.
16:46And it, it really sort of, you know what?
16:50Damn right.
16:51You should say that because look at, look at, look at the competition.
16:55You're as good as any of these teams.
16:58I don't think you're better.
16:59You're not the best, but nobody's head and shoulders.
17:04Like, you know, if Colorado were in the East, then it would be like, oh God, how are you going
17:09to beat that team?
17:11Yeah.
17:11Yes.
17:12I think, but there's no other team really like that in the league this year.
17:15I don't think.
17:17And I mean, if that's not in round one, we still have to be just happy to be here right
17:24now.
17:25Right.
17:25I mean, that's not, um, is that bad to say?
17:29Like, I don't mean that in terms of the players going into this, this game tonight or anything
17:34like this or this series, but I don't want to even want to say it.
17:38The thought I had that I didn't want to say the Voldemort of the situation here is for
17:43all the comparisons to Oh six, would you take it?
17:45Would you take that result for this playoff run?
17:47And like, no, no, but how cool would that be if they, I mean, it would, it would ultimately
17:53be heartbreak, but if they could win two rounds, you know, get us to Memorial day.
17:59Right.
17:59I went to the, I went to the game in Carolina on Memorial day.
18:03That's right.
18:03Game five was on Memorial day and the race was not on because there was a guy with a
18:10sign in the parking lot.
18:12Sabres bus pulled in and said, isn't the race on?
18:14It was not, but you know, like what would we have settled for two weeks ago, two months
18:24ago, last July, like what would have been good enough that keeps going up.
18:30And I said yesterday a lot, like, I think you would, you would say this too.
18:35Sunday's game just sort of opens your mind to more from the Sabres in these playoffs.
18:44I think, because not only did they pull it out, but they were tested and they were good.
18:50Like that wasn't a fluke win, but they really had to dig for it and they did it.
18:56So experience and nerves and these things.
19:01And that's why I brought up the booing, not, not to be like critical about it or you make
19:06fun of them.
19:07Just point out like that's it.
19:08You're everyone's so excited.
19:10We're looking so forward to this.
19:12We're halfway through the game and our power play is being booed on home ice.
19:17That's adversity.
19:18That is like, we are letting these people down hard.
19:22We're letting ourselves down and they just kept going.
19:26You know, I, I did not see all of the Pittsburgh Philly game and I missed largely when Pittsburgh
19:31got a lot of action and a lot of shots on net, because as I've mentioned the front half
19:36of that game, they had five shots on goal with eight minutes to go in the second period.
19:40There was nothing happening there.
19:41At one point they interviewed Eric Carlson coming out of a TV timeout and predictably
19:48one of the questions was how hard is it to knock it down when, you know, you can't seem
19:54to really get anything going here offensively.
19:56And Carlson said, it's hard.
19:58It's basically, he just copped to like, yeah, we're frustrated.
20:01I'm frustrated right now.
20:03And maybe any Sabre that you would have talked to at the eight minute mark of the second period
20:09on Sunday night, maybe honestly would have told you the same thing.
20:14Or maybe they would have just said, no, we're just going to keep going.
20:17I don't know.
20:18I thought it was notable that Eric Carlson was willing to admit, yeah, you're like, I'm
20:20already, I'm frustrated.
20:21It's game two and we've had basically 70 minutes of this or 80 minutes of this already.
20:28And I, yeah, I'm pissed.
20:31Dude, you're Eric Carlson.
20:32I mean, just.
20:33It's honest.
20:34It is honest.
20:36But the Sabres were in the same position and not that they were getting smothered, right?
20:41That's, that's the difference.
20:42Like they, they probably knew they had the puck most of the time and that it was really
20:47a game that was in their control.
20:50They just were on the wrong end of the scoreboard.
20:53And so maybe it's a little easier to keep going.
20:55It wasn't as frustrating a game as Pittsburgh was maybe playing, but either way, I'm just
20:59going a long way and saying a lot of words to say they went through a lot on Sunday
21:02night in just one single playoff game.
21:06They went through a lot.
21:07Well, Bulldog, I don't have to tell you this, but major championships are about the very
21:14greatest coming up with their best when things matter the most.
21:18And Arby's has done just that.
21:22It's my favorite.
21:23And it's not exactly right.
21:27I'm not sure what those parts in the middle exactly were.
21:32Masters radio had a read that they read all the time.
21:37It was just like that.
21:39And there was like no transition into it.
21:41I don't know how you would, but we're here at the masters and you know what fans
21:47major championships are about the very greatest players coming up big when things are the
21:54most important.
21:55And Arby's has done just that with a new roast beef sandwich.
22:00I mean, that's a pimp for Arby's.
22:03I like Arby's.
22:05But can you, can you, the gall of that read, the gall of that read.
22:09That should never get off.
22:14Never lose it.
22:15There's some email thread that should have killed that like months before it got to the
22:19hands of that announcer.
22:21I listened to five hours of baseball on the radio last night.
22:24I wasn't feeling well and I was just trying to fall asleep and really couldn't do it.
22:29And some of these, I mean, I'm not saying ours are better necessarily, but just like
22:34some of these, apparently there's one pizza place where angels fans go to watch every game.
22:41This is where the word all was in the read.
22:45They sometimes play eight games in a week.
22:48162 times.
22:49You're supposed to go to a pizza place to watch your baseball team play.
22:53Never to the stadium.
22:54Never TV.
22:55Always to this one place.
22:57I mean, computers are writing it.
23:01Well, a little bit of a tangent.
23:04Sabres and Bruins.
23:06Paul Hamilton at six.
23:06Maybe it's not even slither time by six.
23:10It's a 740 game.
23:11Oh, right.
23:11Maybe we'll be able to hear Paul.
23:13I think that's right.
23:14And he can hear us.
23:15We'll find out.
23:16There is some talk of Gary Bettman doing a press conference down there tonight.
23:20We might have that for you.
23:22We'll find out details as we get closer.
23:24And then 740 for the opening faceoff.
23:27No lineup changes expected.
23:29Sabres and Bruins.
23:30Buffalo up a game.
23:31Mike Schoep and the Bulldog here at 8.
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