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00:00it's come to i'm going to turn to the west her hotline for some sanity from paul hamilton
00:04which is unprecedented uh in this show's history and i believe in paul's radio career hi paul how
00:10are you how are you uh good i've been banned i guess uh from the uh from going to any
00:15more games
00:16which is fine how many how many times have you banned me from your show so uh never i i
00:22i have
00:23i've broached the subject with management a couple times uh but no never an outright ban paul i've
00:29i've been setting fire to your show for how many i've always been talked i've always been talked
00:33out of it paul is what's happened here when you had that sports hall of fame you're taking people
00:37out and i would make suggestions and you wanted to you know set me on fire yeah well here's where
00:45i
00:45want to begin i'm going to just move on from you know the nonsense that i largely created of my
00:50own
00:50choice um how hard do you think it would have been for this team last night going into that game
00:59to
00:59not be a little tight um because i i know to a man i i totally believe the sincerity with
01:06which
01:07they speak about um enjoying the atmosphere i mean it's even more than just enjoying that's
01:13understating it um just how great it's been to be you know here on the ice be a part of
01:19this team
01:19and see the energy in the building and feel the energy in the building i'm standing there during the
01:25anthem and i've got goosebumps i'm i'm almost i'm almost in tears it's so powerful and i'm thinking
01:31these guys want so badly to do this for everyone and i think that creates a kind of a kind
01:38of pressure
01:38even though they're up 3-1 in the series what do you think yeah i agree and uh you know
01:43lindy ruff
01:44thought because many of them have not been in deciding games in the nhl like that and he thought
01:49they were a little uptight um just the way he said they were going for a lot of safe plays
01:55maybe that they didn't need to go to uncharacteristically and he just he had the sense
02:01that maybe some of those guys were a little bit tight playing in their first game where they could
02:06eliminate the opponent so do they learn from one experience and i certainly don't have to deal with
02:13the pressure if we agreed that there is a pressure in performing at home uh in game six because
02:19they're going to be on the road where they've already won twice which you know everything can
02:24tie you up into a pretzel at this time of the year paul i'm i woke up today thinking i'm
02:29gonna win a
02:29third game in boston in this series okay i mean they've looked good there they played better there
02:34than here but boy that feels like a lot to ask to go win three games in their barn well
02:40you were
02:40sitting with me for a little while today at the station and i started figuring out road and
02:44home victories and it's really kind of out of whack i mean each conference has played 18 games
02:52that's 36 playoff games in the nhl in 21 of them the road team has won 21 out of the
03:0136 i was saying 500
03:03you know yeah when we started and i was way off i mean so the road teams have been doing
03:09very well
03:10including in this series what's the only home victory in this series the buffalo sabers when
03:16eight minutes left in the game they're down to nothing and then they go nuts and score four goals
03:20yeah um that's the only home victory in this whole series so them winning three in boston maybe doesn't
03:28sound so crazy with with the way this has gone so what what what do you think cost them last
03:33night
03:33like boston to me it you know you you told us lindy thinks maybe some guys were tight and they
03:39did
03:39some uncharacteristic things that got to give boston some credit paul i've been really hard on
03:44their decor i think rightly so but i've been saying like mcavoy is the only guy there that can really
03:51move the puck and hurt you lindholm's a very nice defenseman he's not like he's not that caliber
03:57but he's very nice player and he made a tremendous play obviously on the game winner so um i've been
04:03wrong
04:03in like excluding him because i i think you know he's he's closer to mcavoy than he is to
04:09like azadoroff to me like he's a he's a very you know pretty high level defenseman uh in the league
04:15uh great play there uh to win the game i mean should they have seen pastor not coming i mean
04:22it just
04:22seemed like a very tough situation with him coming off the bench and the timing of that turnover it's
04:27coming off the bench it wasn't like the breakaways we saw earlier in the series and lindholm was within
04:34inches of giving up a breakaway that could have lost him the game mcleod was gone and the pass
04:41didn't quite get to him and mcleod i've seen him score some goals on some breakaways so it could have
04:46happened swayman of course was right on top of his game but you never know and uh the other the
04:52and so here comes pastor neck off the bench it wasn't your typical well you guys got to watch him
04:57how's he getting behind you type of a thing they've really controlled him with the offside defenseman
05:02kind of paying attention to make sure he doesn't take off on them so he's basically been quiet
05:08until that overtime goal i mean quite honestly i was telling you earlier if i was picking the three
05:13stars i wouldn't even have looked at pastor neck if you're talking about the three best players
05:17in the game because i didn't even notice he was on the ice until he scored the overtime goal
05:21the two goaltenders to me were the best two in the game and not only did he get the breakaway
05:27coming off the bench he stayed on side yeah and that was the amazing part too i'm not sure too
05:32many
05:33players would have been able to stay on side on that play and he did that put a beautiful move
05:38on
05:39lion don't forget they stopped him on breakaways earlier in the scene in the series uh lukinin stopped
05:47him twice on breakaways i think lion may have too um and you know he got him on that one
05:53but got him
05:53with a beautiful move quite honestly what goalie does he not score on with that kind of a move
05:58and you have to remember too that you know this is in the last four years this is the nhl's
06:03top goal
06:04score yeah certainly i don't think there's any shame in that i mean you know it's it's an elite move
06:10you can see the snow flying up as he digs on that inside edge to get back uh outside to
06:16lion's left
06:17there and there's just enough room there i don't know maybe someone taller um you know but you don't
06:22know i was talking about this with our boss earlier like lukinin is you know lukinin's three four
06:27inches bigger than lion is but you don't know that he's going to play play the the the attempt the
06:33same
06:33way you know like so i don't blame lion it's an elite move and no do i really fault lion
06:39on the on
06:40the first boston goal paul that those scramble plays right in front of the the goalie like that
06:45man those are the worst because like you i i often refer to the goalie as like it's a supercomputer
06:52they're they're processing danger all the time it's like the terminator little screen you used to get
06:57like but it's like rapid fire like you know and you're watching the the puck carrier you're
07:03looking who's the trailer you're processing stick angles and where the guy's hands are and like
07:07where's the puck going next and you got to be on top of that all the time when the puck
07:11is bouncing
07:12around in front of the in front of the crease in the slot it's like the computer has lost its
07:17wi-fi
07:17connection you're just sort of okay i don't know what's going to happen next oh crap that guy's
07:22oh it's in that's how those goals are they're very tough to defend i i think a goalie has a
07:28better
07:28time defending a two-on-one frankly than a play like that that's just sort of
07:32where's it going where's it going oh there it is oh too late um so i i wouldn't fault him
07:37on either
07:37goal and to me i don't know if lindy said anything about it today but i wouldn't think you're going
07:44back to lucan and off of that game right i wouldn't even ask the question quite honestly i've i've answered
07:50that question a lot on talk shows today uh but no i would that would be in in my opinion
07:56to ask
07:57lindy ruff that question is on the side of a stupid question so i probably would not and i'm
08:02not trying to insult you or anything no i know i'm just i'm just saying on a talk show to
08:06talk about
08:07i'm asking just to clear just to make sure it's definitive because i i agree i would not move lion
08:11out of that starter spot at all i just i just want to ask the question yeah no that's what
08:15i mean that's
08:16what we're here for is to debate things like that so uh yeah lion i i thought would have been
08:21the
08:21second star of the game and not only in that second on that first goal that you described but jason
08:25zucker tried to clear the puck by swinging his hand his hand at it and just got a little piece
08:31of it he wound up setting it up right in the slot for lindholm to shoot and score yeah i
08:35mean so that
08:36doesn't help your goaltender either when that happens how close in your view were the sabers to
08:41winning this game in like the first minute of overtime paul where we were seated i was seated down
08:46low nine rows up center ice across from your vantage point in the press box i could see you and
08:52owen
08:52uh not so much sitting but when you were standing for the anthems i could see where you got and
08:56i
08:57know where your spot is because you've been in that spot for since the arena opened right i think
09:01it's probably right um did zucker had a really clean look right yeah i had a perfect look at it
09:09it was
09:09the net was wide open uh well i would say half open half to three quarters and he said afterwards
09:16he
09:16thought he had scored uh because he usually will score there that's like right in his office and
09:21um he takes the shot and is he taking the shot quinn's coming across and the shot hits quinn
09:28at an open net and it's like you're kidding right and he said he couldn't believe it he said you
09:34know
09:35but what are you going to do he said it's just the breaks of the game and zucker has had
09:38such bad luck
09:39he's been hitting skates legs yeah goalies posts everything he just can't seem to buy a goal he's
09:46been where he's supposed to be in the crease bothering the goaltender digging away at the puck
09:51but he just hasn't been able to put the puck over the goal line into the net another great chance
09:56came
09:56in the third period when krebs went cross ice to thompson and swayman came flying across the crease and
10:02just made a phenomenal save uh on tage thompson that normally tage thompson would have scored on that
10:08but swayman just had other ideas and that might have been the save of the game this is the one
10:13where he got he got his left pad on it that one yeah it was a great play by krebs
10:17across the crease
10:17to find thompson coming and just a phenomenal save i don't ask this question with any judgment because
10:23i'm i'm not sure that i would want to be hard on thompson there at all but could he have
10:29done a better
10:29job of elevating the puck there or is it the idea i'm just gonna be i'm gonna i've got this
10:33guy beat
10:34i'm beating him to the post basically he and the puck out there at the same time now i think
10:40i would
10:41ask him that question if elevation was possible there i certainly didn't have the talent at hockey
10:48that he had that for me no there would have been no elevation no possibility hammer it in i am
10:53i am also
10:54not tage thompson so uh you know so maybe he would think about it later and say ah geez you
11:01know i could
11:01have elevated that puck and gotten it but uh i did not talk to tage last night so i don't
11:06know his
11:06thoughts on that so paul hamilton on the western hotline with us we're going over last night's
11:11disappointing 2-1 overtime loss to the bruins keeping the bruins alive for a game six which will
11:17come friday night back in boston say we're still up in the series three to two um osland osland which
11:26is
11:26it paul i keep going osland osland osland i gotta i gotta help everybody there uh even brian coziel
11:33it is he's one of my problems because last night i heard him say osland and i was like damn
11:39it which
11:39is it um yeah yeah brian says it like that sorry i'll get i'll get everybody there don't worry i
11:47don't
11:50let me tell you it's not surreal at all to pile into your vehicle after a hockey game and turn
11:54the
11:55radio on and hear brian coziel talking to your son by the way uh that was me last night uh
12:01owen had a
12:02long night in the arena and then was up early for the morning show today but um uh where was
12:07i oh yeah
12:07okay the injury to osland um first of all i never saw what happened because the vantage point again where
12:14you are where i was that's a dead zone in the arena if you're sitting as low as i was
12:19that corner
12:20uh met you know down from the saber bench is where the injury took place so i never even knew
12:25what
12:25happened i just knew he wasn't on the ice at you know after a certain point um so how big
12:32a loss paul
12:32and what what's the the obvious pivot is norris uh what are the pros and cons here well unfortunately it
12:40was just a bad fault middle stat just lost his balance and fell awkwardly onto ostland
12:47and either fell on his knee or his ankle something like that but he could not put any pressure on
12:52it
12:52whatsoever he came out for a spin for just a second or two during a break before the period ended
12:58went
12:59right back to the locker room it just didn't work out for him many fans asked does that mean it's
13:04good
13:05news at least that maybe it won't be long because uh he came back out and sometimes it would mean
13:11that
13:11but it doesn't sound like it does in this situation because lindy ruff said he's going to be out a
13:16while
13:16and the news is just not good for him but this was josh norris's spot in the lineup osland took
13:24his place
13:25when he got injured and now i'm questioning has norris been hurt the whole playoffs because he just
13:32hasn't been himself in any of the games he hasn't been dangerous offensively at all and uh now that
13:39he has missed a couple games due to injury my thought he's not going to tell us i understand that
13:43um you know i did ask but you know he wasn't going to give it and i i was expecting
13:48that um but uh
13:50now my thought is was he playing hurt before that before he set out for the two games and now
13:56he set
13:57out for two games plus an extra he could have played last game uh which i know some folks thought
14:02he should have but um you know it was more of a situation like zucker when they were winning 10
14:08in
14:08a row is look at we just walked into boston i'll score them nine to two we're not changing the
14:13lineup
14:13you know so that's and i agree that i wouldn't either so i think he was in a weight you're
14:20torn
14:20situation and unfortunately for noah ostland it norris's turn came up in one game so you hope that
14:27maybe he is healed and is back to himself and can become himself back into the lineup and sliding back
14:34into his line that he was on originally i said yesterday during our uh our show that i also would
14:42have kept norris out and kept kozak in his spot centering mails down in greenway but i would at least
14:50listen to someone saying like come on norris is a much more accomplished nhl player and he's a good
14:56defensive player too so it's not the worst fit i mean it's not why you want an eight million dollar
15:02center on your team to center your fourth line but if he's being outperformed by a rookie in the top
15:08six line okay then plug him in down there like i would listen to it i wouldn't have done it
15:13either
15:14but i would listen to it and it's just it's a tough break for lindy and you know the coaching
15:19staff
15:19and the whole team really that the injury occurred and if norris had been in kozak spot then you've
15:26got the line you started the playoffs with instead of using kozak which is you know with doan and
15:31benson that's just a tougher fit uh i think so um circumstantial i know but i before the game i
15:37thought i would i would listen to someone argue that norris should be in it certainly is a credible
15:43conversation um i wouldn't do it because i don't believe in just playing defensively like that and i
15:51think if you're dressing somebody with the thought well i want to dress him just in case somebody gets
15:56hurt right i i don't want to do that what i would want to do is differently from what lindy
16:03ruff did
16:04uh kozak should be centering greenway and malenstein and nobody else even if you get an injury like that
16:12he he he goes 100 every shift all the time i mean i'm i admire his game and i admire
16:20it in the right
16:21place but he was out of place there and what i would have done is left him on his line
16:26and i
16:27i would have alternated into ausland spot i would have put mcleod there or thompson there you know
16:32or krebs there i might have given kozak the odd shift double shifting but as i'm double shifting
16:38it would have been the guys from the top six i would i would have done that not moved him
16:43up from
16:44his line and then put the guys from the top six out there with malenstein and greenway yeah i i
16:49wonder
16:49i wonder why they wonder why they handled it the way they did in the game like is it possible
16:54that
16:54lindy feels like he's already asking as much as he can ask from his top guys um yeah i just
17:02i i want i
17:02wonder how they decided to basically use kozak in that role paul uh speaking of the top guys
17:10thompson i mean he had an assist on the sixth goal he had an assist a secondary assist on the
17:16power play
17:16goal last night um and of course you know they don't win game one without him but that's he hasn't
17:22scored a goal since game one and i know that's only four games ago um but boy it feels like
17:28a like a
17:28moment like poster not gave his team yesterday is um if not overdue it's at least due for thompson
17:36absolutely um he took over game one they don't win without him and that's what you expect out of
17:42tage thompson and honestly that's what he expects out of himself he wants his teammates to expect that
17:48from him and he did it but he hasn't scored since i don't think he's been awful to be quite
17:54honest
17:55but he hasn't been tage thompson he hasn't converted his opportunities um yeah you know
18:01now there's nothing he can do on the on the uh goal they scored two seconds after arvidsson got on
18:06the
18:06ice right before that before they changed units he was in his office over there in the left circle by
18:13himself and somebody threw it over there might have been dolly and put it right right in the bread
18:17basket he he took a shot he broke his stick in two yeah it's like oh geez i mean you
18:23know so and
18:24then they did wind up scoring two seconds after the power play ended don't scored but um yeah i i
18:31think
18:31he knows he says i've he's said it live before that he has paid to score goals i'm sure it
18:39upsets him
18:40that he hasn't but the team has been winning until this last game and that goal you said where maybe
18:46he
18:46could have elevated it or whatever that opportunity not goal uh that he maybe could have elevated the puck
18:52uh that could have been the game winner right there so they need him i mean they don't deserve to
18:57win
18:58the series if they can't beat boston in one of three games to close this thing out and they have
19:03shown
19:03us every bit of during the season that they're quite capable of closing out this series and winning
19:09one out of three games oh i know oh sorry so yeah i i i just but it would really
19:15help a lot if tate
19:16thompson became part of it with some goals yeah well i know we'll have an extra day here with the
19:21game
19:21uh not being tomorrow and instead being on friday night to sort of pour over all of this but what
19:28are
19:28the chances that with norris going in um going back into the lineup anyway because what i'm about to ask
19:35you is do you think there's the lines have been pretty stable for quite some time now certainly
19:41zucker queen and mcleod never get broken up um krebs and uh thompson and tuck likewise like those lines
19:49have been pretty entrenched is there any chance that they go blender at practice tomorrow yeah lindy
19:56rough opened that door but i wouldn't just because you were one game from where you scored four in the
20:02first period and six overall and you were also on the road and where are you going you're on the
20:07road maybe if it got to a game seven i might consider it because at home they just these lines
20:13have not really generated what they need to generate for them but uh they did get nine goals in the
20:20two
20:20games in boston so i i think i would tend to leave it alone but lindy rough did open the
20:25door because he
20:25said yeah we can put norris right back in his spot or if i want to i can juggle the
20:30lines a little bit too
20:31he said and see how that might work out so he he left the door open to that idea i
20:36don't know that
20:36i want to be too hard on uh on the the the mcleod line um because they did come very
20:42close like we
20:43already talked about to having zucker win the game for them but we're talking about basically well it's
20:49almost goose eggs there we've got one assist for zucker one assist for mcleod and where's quinn does
20:55quinn have any i oh i missed him he always got three assists okay let's um at least something i
21:01just the the goal scoring just hasn't been there but again oh so close there in overtime and that's
21:06a whole different conversation be like oh look at zucker the gritty veteran and that line won the
21:10game for them but unfortunately i think of the three zucker probably has the best chance of breaking
21:16through just because he hasn't yet and he's been getting opportunities right in the crease area where
21:22he is often around so i would say he might have the best chance of the three mcleod just doesn't
21:28want
21:28to shoot it's simple as that and he's not going to score if he doesn't shoot he had 20 goals
21:32last
21:33year i i just think he forgot that he scored 20 goals because he learned how to shoot a little
21:38bit
21:38he's got a good shot it's not like he can't shoot or he has a horrible shot he doesn't have
21:44a horrible
21:44shot but he's passing up opportunities again has been doing it the whole series and he got his one
21:50assist on the almost power play goal and zucker got his one assist on the power play goal so that's
21:57the only time those two have scored and they weren't out there as a line when that happened
22:01anything that we need to make sure gets mentioned here paul before we wrap up
22:06no it just uh tomorrow will be before they leave for boston they'll practice we'll see if those lines
22:12indeed do get juggled and uh we already know norris is going to probably take austin's spot
22:19and i don't know if there would be any other i i have no problem with stanley and timmons i
22:25don't
22:25see any no me either that you know um power i thought is best game of the season maybe of
22:31his life
22:31uh his last game uh so really i don't see anything else that would be possibly done for kozak but
22:40kozak's fine i mean he's he had a good game it's just he's not cut out for being in the
22:45top six
22:45that's all all right paul thanks a lot for this appreciated and hopefully your travel schedule
22:50will allow for us to have some time with you tomorrow during our show yeah i think i get
22:54there very early in your show so i think there's a good chance all right there you go thanks paul
22:58safe travels that's paul hamilton on the western hotline his appearances are brought to you by
23:03ralax honda ralax we got this uh i have an idea about something rough may do with the lines
23:09it's not about who's going to be where but just an overall sort of gamesmanship point that i want
23:15to make when we get back lines are open by the way you want to get in anything that paul
23:20and i
23:20talked about anything about the sabers duh
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