- 5 months ago
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00:00So I'm going to stand down for now.
00:02The hockey game was awesome.
00:04The hockey game was so great.
00:07It was so rewarding to see them get paid off for playing such a good game again.
00:15Unlike game one, which was, to me, a very similar game.
00:19Boston did not have really very much going five-on-five.
00:23Their goal was, I don't want to say fluky, but I don't think Lions saw it.
00:28But, you know, so credit to their guy for using Timmons as such a great screen.
00:35But I thought they were playing so well right from the start.
00:38And, you know, the power play is frustrating, whatever.
00:41But I thought, come on, just get a couple of goals here.
00:43This is your game.
00:44This is just like game one.
00:46And, you know, they did.
00:47And played with a lead for a while and managed to just kind of snuff the game out in the
00:53third period,
00:54which was really good.
00:55I mean, they only had to do that for a few minutes in game one.
00:58In this game, they had a much longer runway with a one-goal lead.
01:02And even those power plays didn't even get that.
01:06Maybe there was one dangerous chance in those two power plays late.
01:11Halfway through the period, Darlene and then Thompson was later than that,
01:14like five or six minutes to go.
01:17Just high marks, man.
01:18Just really, really well done.
01:21Reminiscent of the second home game against Tampa Bay.
01:25Yeah, right.
01:26Yes, exactly.
01:28I mean, they got the lead eventually last night.
01:30In that game, they had it, I think, to start the third and just like it was on lockdown.
01:35And, yeah, I'm not one of their dads, but I was really proud of them last night.
01:39I mean, a lot of what we've been talking about is experience and toughness and these kinds of things.
01:45Do they really have anything left to prove in these areas if they lose in game seven in overtime or
01:54something?
01:55Is it because they never played in game seven in overtime before?
01:58I mean, just, I'm good.
01:59I was this way before game one.
02:03I was most, I guess I can't say 100%, but I was mostly this way yesterday.
02:09Like, people at the remote we were at were asking, you know, like, what do you think?
02:13Like, I'm not betting Boston.
02:16I mean, I just, I don't want to do that.
02:17You asked me right off the top of the show, would you take, you know, 2-2?
02:21No.
02:21You said no, and I agree.
02:22They're the better, they're the better team.
02:24Go, you know, go get this one tonight and then go, we'll see about Sunday.
02:27I won't deny having dark flashbacks during the second period of this game last night to 2010 or to 1989
02:38or something.
02:39Just like, oh, God, it's going to be like this.
02:42I mean, they deserved a break, and they got it.
02:45I mean, they really, their goals were, in a sense, lucky.
02:48All four goals in this game, part of the story of each one is a defensive player in the way,
02:56or even in all three Sabres' goals' case, I think, there was a stick involved, like Byram's goal.
03:04Then, I mean, Tuck, of course, it's just like his shot is deflected right away up top, and, you know,
03:10that's a good break.
03:11That's what comes from enough shot attempts, and that's why we harp on all that stuff.
03:16And then Ostland, too.
03:17Ostland's kind of a banker into the empty net.
03:19Yeah, yeah, off, like, yeah, Pasternak's skates, I suppose, is what that did.
03:25Well, I have this thing this year about, and those are not all the same thing last night, but defensive
03:31players, it's Middlestad on the Tuck goal, I believe, not a defenseman.
03:35I didn't notice deflections on either of those two goals by the Sabres.
03:38Really?
03:38Yeah, I've got to go back and look at them.
03:40Oh, am I wrong?
03:40No, I don't know.
03:42I just didn't notice.
03:43I thought Tuck picked the corner.
03:44I did not notice a deflection.
03:45No, I think that puck flutters immediately from Middlestad's stick.
03:51I'm not saying you're wrong.
03:52We should make sure.
03:53I will, you know, when I have, I'm not going to do it now.
03:55We watched the game on different networks.
03:58That's right.
03:59Yeah, perhaps.
04:00I might have gotten a different look than you had.
04:02Maybe you did.
04:03Yeah, yeah.
04:04But more so, I guess, more so the Byram play is the one I would say I didn't think about
04:09a deflection.
04:11I thought that puck was the same, like, just direct line into the net.
04:15But I should have watched him back.
04:17I'm going to look more closely.
04:19But either way, yeah, in the Boston first goal, the Boston goal was a screen.
04:25You know, like, he just never saw it.
04:27That went in clean, too, I think, or just went through Timmons.
04:30I don't think that was tipped.
04:31Right.
04:32But it was compromised.
04:33But you have defensemen, like, what are they supposed to do?
04:36I would only ask people that play the game, are you supposed to not reach out or not be in
04:42the way?
04:43I mean, the line of the shot between, you know, the shooter and the goalie.
04:47I mean, there's got to be some element of that.
04:48You're supposed to be, the old school way to do it is you're supposed to be sure.
04:52If you're not sure, then don't reach or don't go, don't go down to block it if you're not going
04:58to commit to it.
04:58And I don't think that's a problem with, like, Timmons' value right now entirely, to me, is blocking shots on
05:05the penalty kill.
05:06And he's been excellent at it.
05:08I really do.
05:09And I mean that.
05:10He had a few nice plays last night.
05:11Yeah, it was not the easiest decision in the world to get comfortable with that he was going in.
05:15We had this, you know, torrid affair with Metza down the stretch in the season.
05:20And, you know, it was a point in time where they're like, oh, he's rock solid in this lineup.
05:23But we always knew Lindy.
05:25We kept hearing Lindy loves Timmons, really wanted to get Timmons on the team in the summer.
05:29And he missed most of the year.
05:31He's showing his value.
05:33I mean, blocking shots on the PK is a big thing in the playoffs.
05:37And he's got a bunch of them already.
05:40So, no complaints there.
05:42I mean, he did get burned there, you know, cost a goal.
05:45But I think he's done way more good than bad in that area.
05:48All right.
05:49Well, I want to ask.
05:50I've been waiting to do it all day.
05:52I've asked friends.
05:53Friends, I've gotten only one answer to this question that has, well, I guess technically three possible answers.
06:03Would you ever go to Lucanen tomorrow?
06:07Sunday.
06:08Sunday.
06:09Would you ever go to Lucanen for game four?
06:10I would not.
06:11You would not?
06:12I would not.
06:13I didn't even.
06:13I saw, you know, it sort of came up last night in the, you know, the throes of the victory
06:19and even this morning.
06:21And I thought to sort of say something about it on social media.
06:25Then I thought, like, I think it's so obvious I don't even want to wait in here.
06:29I'm just going to wait until three o'clock.
06:31And when it comes up, I'm going to say, of course, Lion is playing game four.
06:35I think, you know, unless they really do want to take the we're going to get back to what we
06:41did all season thing out for a hard spin,
06:44then that's Lucanen's way back in.
06:46But, man, I thought Lion was really steady, really calm, really good in this game.
06:53So I just, I would not take him out.
06:57I would expect that if he plays until he falters, he'll falter.
07:03And then you'll have the opportunity to put the other guy back in if you want to.
07:07So I think you're still, you know, hoping that they can, you know, win this series eventually and keep going
07:14into a second round.
07:15I would expect Lucanen to play again at some point.
07:20But I'm.
07:21What's the scenario?
07:22The scenario is you win game four.
07:25You come home and Lion lays an egg in game five.
07:28And you say, OK, let's go back to the other guy.
07:31How does that sound?
07:32What do you mean?
07:34Like, I think it sounds like I just said it.
07:35I think you just do it.
07:37I mean, how does, how does it sound like, how would it feel going into that game in that situation?
07:44We're now, and this is like, if he's going to play, that's the point, right?
07:49Mm-hmm.
07:50So that's like maybe a, not the best case scenario necessarily, but up there would be that.
07:56I'm three, two up going to Boston and Lions just had a bad game.
08:00I think it's exactly, it's the same scenario we just saw play out here.
08:04I think, right, with game three.
08:08Lucanen had a shaky game two, and you saw fit to make the change, and you did.
08:15And I think if you want to treat the two guys as equals, which I think we should be doing,
08:22I think that's how the, the fact that Lion went in, he didn't have to go in.
08:26I thought it was the right choice, Ruff did it, but it's the same logic that we just saw here.
08:34If you go back to Lucanen after a bad outing by Lion, I think it's just, it's just one,
08:39it's two games further into the series.
08:41You know, the stakes are a little higher, obviously, because you're, you, they got a chance to tie the series
08:45at home.
08:46So, you know, there's more pressure there, but I don't know, I think if you're going to treat them as
08:51equals,
08:51then that, that's, that's one way that it happens.
08:55It doesn't have to happen at all.
08:56That's nine days off too.
08:58Right.
08:59That would be what you'd want.
09:02I don't know.
09:03Like, there's always a but here.
09:06I, I think it's worth a discussion playing Lucanen Sunday because really that is your MO is the back and
09:17forth.
09:17And we took a break from that and Lion was injured.
09:20So it was reasonable to do that.
09:23But I don't know if I want to just kind of predict, count on, this is what my plan is,
09:31that Lion is like, you know, a one day after game, after game, after game, you could do it,
09:38but you, I think you do want to think about how much time off the other guy gets.
09:44And for Lion, it's been, well, it was a good amount, but he got a game in relief.
09:50Right.
09:51That helps probably a little bit.
09:53I don't know.
09:54Anything in this category can be probably overthinking.
09:59But I, I have loved about this team that they haven't had a Ryan Miller or a Dominic Hasek or
10:07a goalie.
10:08That's just like the reason for it all.
10:10Somebody that you can't, if, if they're not on, you're going down.
10:15Like they don't, that's not the Sabres.
10:17And I think it, what I'd want to do is just not forget that and keep both guys going.
10:26It would be a ballsy move, Lukanen, after last night.
10:31I think.
10:32But I don't hate it.
10:33I think it's, hmm.
10:35I don't hate it.
10:36I think it's more possible that they do go back to Lukanen than it was that he was going to
10:45play this game last night.
10:47Like, I'm going back to like right after game two.
10:49Right, game two ends, Lion comes in in relief, like, yeah, I'm pivoting the Lion here.
10:55Like, to me, I was dug in on that.
10:57I don't know how easy or difficult a decision it was for them, but I thought, to me, this is
11:02the obvious thing to do.
11:03You've had the two guys all year, you've alternated, you stopped for a little while, and the other guy kind
11:08of bugged out here and gave up a hundred footer.
11:10And like, okay, let's use the other guy.
11:11Like, to me, that was more obvious than using Lion on Sunday would be.
11:18Does that, do you follow that?
11:19Like, I think it's more, the door is more open to me, in my mind, to pivot to Lukanen because
11:25of everything you just said.
11:26Like, and how Lindy sounded in setting up the fact that Lion was going to get the net last night.
11:33I mean, he talked for two days about their, you know, how they handled their season.
11:37In the interview we ran in pregame yesterday, it's him talking, you know, all year we've used, heck, we've used
11:43three guys.
11:43You know, and it's worked for us, and it's one of the reasons why, you know, we feel like we
11:48are where we are.
11:49We feel like it's a strength, that kind of stuff.
11:51That's no less true today.
11:52Right.
11:53So, if he wants to really go all the way with that, then, yeah.
11:58Could you respect it?
12:00Yes.
12:01Yes.
12:02It would not be my choice.
12:04I would use Lion in game four, but I would not be like, oh my God, what are you doing?
12:10Well, if they do this, and I don't expect them to, Lion is such the easy choice after last night.
12:19Because you really are pushing it as a coach.
12:24But I think you can defend it, like we're talking.
12:29If you go to Lucanen and it doesn't work out, I'm not sure you can go back to him.
12:35And I think you're a goat.
12:37In the original sense of the term, the meaning of goat.
12:43Not the greatest of all time.
12:44The world will kind of land on Lindy if he goes away from Lion at this point and they lose
12:53the series.
12:55They don't have to, you know, just lose game four.
12:58But, yeah.
12:59I haven't found anybody who would do it.
13:02But I think if you want, if the goal is the Stanley Cup, you have a better team than Boston.
13:10You have two guys that have been almost equals all year.
13:14One happens to be the guy with more wins and the better save percentage and the contract, like you point
13:19out a lot.
13:20Like sort of the bigger investment.
13:23And not by a lot, but the better goalie this year.
13:28Not by a lot.
13:30Do you have to just sort of ignore that now?
13:32And I want to say no.
13:34I want to say no.
13:35If they win Sunday, Lion is playing as long as they keep winning.
13:39I mean, he's going to just play them all.
13:41And that's fine, too.
13:42We've had a couple of callers reference 2006 Carolina.
13:49Both very strangely to my ears.
13:51As if it were, well, the one guy who called our show was literally like, this is an example of
13:56why you, you know, change it up.
13:59And that is absolutely not an example of that.
14:01Because they only did what they did in 2006 because the first guy faltered.
14:06Like it was all out of it.
14:07Yeah, they weren't alternating guys.
14:08No, not purposely.
14:10No, right.
14:10They were just like losing.
14:11And they pulled their starting goalie a couple of times.
14:15So it's not like that would ever be the plan.
14:17Then I heard another caller today mention it as if to say, like, this is a teaching point in this.
14:25I don't think it is.
14:26In the finals, there was only one guy for Carolina, for what it's worth, that year.
14:32Martin Gerber didn't play one minute of a seven-game Stanley Cup final.
14:35So I think you only, and I think even this probably applies to the Sabres, and it has been true
14:40so far, is you're, even with the rotation over the course of the season, I think you're only going to
14:48see a change if something goes badly first.
14:51Would Lukanen not have played last night had they won game two?
14:55Absolutely would have been in there.
14:56Totally.
14:56So right now we're just doing the thing that teams do when you give up 100-foot goals or whatever
15:04else qualifies as, you know, one you want to have back.
15:10Like, we're just kind of playing it by numbers or painting by numbers, whatever I want there so far.
15:17Hey, good luck to him.
15:18And I'm not down on Lion at all.
15:20I thought he was great, too.
15:21I mean, really good.
15:22I listened to the first period from the Boston radio broadcast, and so I can't see that.
15:29I'm not watching the game.
15:30I'm just driving home from our show, and the color, I wish I got to find out who it was.
15:36He was really good.
15:37I could understand what was happening listening to the Boston broadcast from the commentators, and he was, like, raving about
15:46some of the saves that Lion made.
15:48I also love, by the way, when Krebs got a penalty last night in the first period.
15:53I've not seen this yet.
15:54Yeah.
15:54But the Boston guy was like, what?
15:56Yeah.
15:57And then when Boston got a penalty right after that, he's like, well, of course.
16:02Yeah.
16:02Because the Krebs call was so bad.
16:03Most people with eyeballs were like, what, on the Krebs play?
16:07It's funny.
16:07Did you hear or read what Lindy said about that?
16:10No.
16:10It's like, we were warned.
16:11I wasn't surprised he got a penalty there.
16:13We were warned that they were going to really clamp down on the late jabs or whatever, and Krebs got
16:20one more.
16:21It didn't look like anything, but Ruff did not take the opportunity to say, like, come on, let them play.
16:28He's just like, they warned us, which was interesting, because I could not believe a couple of the calls in
16:33this game kind of blew my mind.
16:35Well, it's easier to, you're more inclined to talk like that for Lindy if you won the game.
16:39Right.
16:40That's right.
16:41You're not mad.
16:42Whereas Marco Sturm today is complaining about guys flying too close to Swayman's crease.
16:46Like, just doing whatever he can to hope for a two-minute goaltender interference call.
16:51Boy, Swayman was hot at that one, that was period two, right?
16:55It was on the right, where he was really worked up.
16:58The Sabres were all over him.
17:00But, you know, tough.
17:02I mean, that's the playoffs.
17:04I want to settle for that.
17:05He left, he, he, they didn't get goals on any of them, but he had trouble corralling pucks at his,
17:12like, you know, in his feet, at his pad, like, on the ice, like, reaching to put the glove on.
17:16It was kind of like playing whack-a-mole a couple of times for him.
17:19Like, he, so the puck was, yeah, the puck was loose a lot around him, which is why the Sabres
17:24were making contact with him, because he was kind of sloppy.
17:27And, like, everyone should know that's what's going to happen.
17:29That was.
17:30As long as they were running him.
17:31No, right.
17:32That was the play where he really, he got to do with the referee's face.
17:35Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:35And, because it was, Zucker was poking at him, and you watch the replay, I was watching on HBO, or
17:41TNT, right?
17:42TNT.
17:43And, because for me, that's the same now.
17:44Sure.
17:46And the puck was never covered.
17:48Right.
17:48It was loose the whole time.
17:49Right.
17:49You know?
17:50And you can get away with a couple of jabs in there anyway, no matter what.
17:53Yeah, even if it is covered.
17:55Just like Swayman has the right to complain.
17:57Really, what it's incumbent upon, it's, you know, incumbent on the opposing defenders to make you, you know, make you
18:03uncomfortable doing that.
18:05And that's why it's sort of funny to me to see the Boston coach, who made a big deal at
18:10the beginning of this series about how big and bad and tough and physical the Bruins were going to be,
18:14and now he's in the media going, like, stay away from my goalie.
18:17Like, what?
18:19It just gets the door off to cross-check someone in the face and not get a penalty for it,
18:23and, you know, maybe it'll stop.
18:25Yeah.
18:27Fun times.
18:29Sam Panijatovic coming up next.
18:31We'll also talk to Ross Tucker today.
18:33That'll be at 4.
18:34Paul Hamilton at 5.
18:36Sal Capaccio at 6.
18:37Round 2 of the NFL draft gets going tonight at 7.
18:41Lots to say about that.
18:42Bills are all about it.
18:46The Friday night draft selections.
18:49So that'll be fun tonight.
18:52So...
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