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00:01Meaningful games in May. Who knew that was a thing that you could aspire to?
00:06Whoa. Yeah. How about that?
00:09Welcome to our show. Mike Schopen, the Bulldog here. Paul Hamilton, Travis Yost today.
00:15Let's just revel in it. It's a little bit of a microcosm of those days leading up to the playoffs
00:20for me, as was the weekend.
00:23Weekend was the best.
00:24Did you still, as you thought, this is where you were and where you expected to be, I think, leading
00:33into last night, ambivalent about who won?
00:41I would have leaned the slightest toward Tampa. Like, wanting Tampa.
00:48Last night? Yeah.
00:49Really, why?
00:50I just felt like the way the series was going.
00:53Wanting Montreal? This doesn't have to mean anything.
00:56I mean, it's, you know, quantifiably even thinner, the margin, than wanting Boston in the first round, which we knew
01:04was still going to be hard anyway.
01:06So, like, either Tampa or Montreal, to me, was going to be hard.
01:11I just thought Tampa, it was possible Tampa, to me, could run out of gas.
01:16They're, I mean, they've got some older guys, they've been at this a while.
01:20Montreal's more like us.
01:22Like, I don't think a Montreal, maybe just like the Sabres, and this can be a good thing, doesn't know
01:27what they don't know, and maybe they're, they're not nervous because, whatever.
01:31I just thought Tampa could run out of gas, is all.
01:34That's not what happened, is it?
01:36No, I don't think so.
01:37At least, I mean, you're talking about by the end of round two.
01:39Right, yeah.
01:40I'm talking about if I play them, will they have, you know, will they have their best stuff for six
01:45or seven games, if it takes that long?
01:47And I thought it was possible they could, you know, run out of gas.
01:50And Vasilevsky was a little leaky in spots, right?
01:54I mean, the winner in game six was horrendous that he gave up, it was game five.
01:58Oh, yeah, game six, they won 1-0 in overtime, yeah.
02:02So, even last night?
02:05It's a coin flip, really.
02:07That goal?
02:08What's that?
02:08The winning goal?
02:10Yeah, I mean, behind the net, it's a bit.
02:12A little bit?
02:13A little bit.
02:14I mean, you don't want to lose a series on a shot from behind the line.
02:17Right, but it's a, I don't know what he's supposed to do differently there.
02:22He just has to be a little quicker is the only counterpoint, I think.
02:25So, yeah, I was leaning Tampa, but it was like a bit, barely.
02:29Like, you know, I'm standing right in the middle, straddling the line between Tampa and Montreal and sort of leaning
02:35Tampa, but it was not discernible.
02:40So, mostly ambivalent, I guess.
02:42Like, just mostly, I kind of was rooting for Tampa to tie it up late.
02:47Just keep playing.
02:48I just wanted to keep going, just wear them out as much as they can.
02:52That's so interesting to me.
02:53It's a thing that I was thinking about the game.
02:55I had a friend, do you know him, Nick?
02:58I know a few people named Nick.
03:00He texted me in the afternoon, who do you want tonight?
03:03And I'm like, hard Canadians.
03:05And he said, really?
03:07He said, there's a wide range of opinions on this.
03:10I'm like, I think so.
03:11So, I am almost stunned that you or anybody could have wanted Tampa Bay to win that series.
03:19I just, I'm almost stunned by that.
03:21I understand the logic and the points you've made about it, but I'm so glad they're dead.
03:29Yeah.
03:29I didn't feel that way going in.
03:30It was more or less like watching what I did of that series when it wasn't matched up against the
03:35Sabres.
03:36And I just sort of felt like that, I feel like that's a puzzle I'm going to have an easier
03:43time solving than Montreal.
03:45Like, Montreal, I think, is, they're just, they're young and fast.
03:51And, like, that probably will be great.
03:55Like, it'll be fun to watch.
03:57Young, dumb, and fast.
03:57Yeah, and I think the Sabres are kind of the same.
04:00And so, I don't know, maybe both of these teams will take turns locking each other up.
04:05The Sabres have certainly proven to be, you know, worth their weight in locking teams up.
04:11But I don't know that they can do what Tampa was doing to Montreal yesterday.
04:14I mean, nine shots on goal in a win, four through, like, into the third period with four shots.
04:21It was kind of incredible the way it was happening.
04:24So, I think matchup-wise, it's the more fun matchup.
04:29But I just thought Tampa...
04:31In so many ways.
04:32Sure.
04:33Yeah.
04:33Like, geographically, awesome.
04:36You know, that market is incredible.
04:37It'll be great to be in the crosshairs of Canadian hockey here.
04:42Nostalgia.
04:43Yeah, it all totally works.
04:46But I thought Tampa might have been a little easier.
04:48That's all.
04:48Tampa had the...
04:50I would love opinions on this.
04:51Tampa had the...
04:52I mean, the 8-7 game.
04:54You had, like, a little bit of a bloodthirst, I think, element with Tampa that isn't there
04:59with the Canadians unless it's about the fans.
05:01And they're just...
05:02You know, we're just probably jealous that they can move into our building, which probably
05:06will be different now.
05:07Hopefully, will be different now.
05:08Part of my...
05:10Admittedly, not all of my desire to have Tampa lose is about matchups.
05:16It's more just, like, about...
05:18The lightning where the guy...
05:20It's always a guy, isn't it?
05:21On the thruway that blows by you at 90, and he's weaving in and out.
05:28And there's always a second car with him.
05:30Like, it's a race that you're stuck in the middle of.
05:33And I have very dark thoughts about those people.
05:36Like, I don't even...
05:38You can guess what they are.
05:40You're putting all of us...
05:41What happens if I flick the edge of your bumper on your way by?
05:44Thoughts?
05:45Can we put a tree in the middle of the left lane?
05:48Yeah, so yeah.
05:48Like, you're putting all of us in danger, and just for your joyride.
05:52Well, that's a...
05:53That's the lightning for me.
05:54They get away with so much, and I don't know, like, I don't...
05:59This doesn't have to be supported or supportable, but I've always hated sports teams like
06:05that.
06:05I think they're just a bunch of bullies.
06:07Well, I...
06:08That's a part of...
06:09I'm so glad you got there, because I didn't make that a part of my front page.
06:15I thought it was possible that they could still be distracted by, we're gonna push you
06:21around.
06:22And I think they tried to do that with Montreal early in the series, like, maybe to their
06:26detriment.
06:27I mean, whatever.
06:28I don't know.
06:29They traded one-goal wins for seven games here, so it's not like anybody ever really
06:34took control of the series.
06:35It was even.
06:37But I thought Tampa, and I think to their detriment, I think they...
06:43And I read, I think, Pierre Lebrun on this today, that some people are observing the lightning
06:49thinking they tried too hard to be like Florida.
06:52Like, they saw Florida intimidating everyone, bullying everyone, and they've tried to do
06:59that to Florida, or Florida's tried to do that to them, and like, that was what that 8-7 game
07:04was all about, and other games they've had this season, where they're trying to assert
07:08their dominance physically on you and intimidate you.
07:11And I was 100% here for that, because I think they would have been wasting their time.
07:16And I think that could have been to the Sabres' benefit, if their power play ever gets going,
07:21or just if Tampa were distracted by it.
07:23But whatever, we don't get it.
07:24Well, I'll say that I think I can make almost as good an argument that Montreal is the better
07:33matchup for the Sabres than the Lightning, even though, of course, those are all good
07:37points.
07:38I want to be confident about the Sabres' depth versus the Canadians, although the Canadians
07:47did just win a series in seven in Tampa without getting a boatload from their best
07:53guys, and that was the scary thing, maybe the number one, the scariest thing about the
07:57Canadians going in was, like, their top line.
08:00Yeah, that's right.
08:01People said they were as good as anybody.
08:03They even broke it up.
08:04Like, Josh Anderson was playing with Caulfield and Suzuki, and Slefkoski was with Demidov
08:08and somebody else, I forget who now.
08:10So they won anyway.
08:11They won anyway, yeah.
08:12One goal from Caulfield in the series, early in the series.
08:15One goal from Suzuki last night, first goal.
08:19That was a funky one, too.
08:20That was funky, too.
08:21That's right.
08:23And Slefkoski had a hat trick in the first game and didn't score again.
08:26They got a plus six from another line in the series.
08:31Texier.
08:32Yeah.
08:32Those guys.
08:33Is that Doc?
08:34I'm not sure.
08:35We'll get to know this, but that's, I say we, like you guys don't know this already.
08:39I might not.
08:40But they did win.
08:41So I'm not sure that that's sort of on point that the Sabres have them in the rolling lines
08:48category, but, man, give me the Benson line against those top guys, and let's just see
08:53what the rest looks like.
08:54I just can't wait to see it.
08:56The goalie was outstanding for Montreal.
08:59So was ours.
09:00And I don't know if that's not a coin flip going into round two.
09:04They've got home ice.
09:07I just, I just love it.
09:08Yeah.
09:08I definitely feel very good about it.
09:10I'm not like intimidated or worried.
09:12I wouldn't have been without.
09:13I think it's worried to the extent that you're probably going to have, you know, five or six
09:19one goal games here.
09:21And it's going to be really tight.
09:22And there's probably going to be some overtime and some drama and some moments, more moments.
09:26That's what you really, that's what you buy when you buy more playoff rounds is you buy
09:30more moments.
09:30Well, you know what else it is?
09:32Like, so we've got a couple days, a little bit of a moment here where we can give, you
09:37know, some perspective or try to share our feelings about how it's gone so far and what
09:42all of this is.
09:43Are we not all still pinching ourselves over the whole thing, you know, given how sudden
09:49all of this is that the Sabres are this good?
09:52I think there's probably, dare I bring this point up, were they to lose in round two, there's
10:00probably going to be a feelings difference between losing to this team and losing to
10:06Tampa, what that would have been, or even like a Florida or some other kind of recent
10:11blue blood, if that's not contradictory, some other team that's kind of been ruling things
10:16in the division or even Carolina somehow.
10:19Like, I think.
10:20Yeah.
10:20Montreal should not rank you really in any way other than, you know, heritage.
10:24Boston was this too.
10:26Boston was, has all this history with the Sabres and, you know, since the Sabres have
10:32last been good, but they were last in the division last year.
10:36They were below the Sabres last year.
10:38So you didn't really want to lose to Boston.
10:40We've done our share of that over the years, but not given like the present terms.
10:46Like that, that wouldn't have been a loss that you could have like felt any kind of good
10:51about.
10:51And, you know, it didn't happen.
10:53And I think the Canadians are close to that as well.
10:56They were not last in the division last year.
10:59They've had some good seasons, but they're so young that I don't know, like the season
11:04series went the Sabres way.
11:05I know they played three times together in January and the Sabres won two of those three
11:11games.
11:12I was at the one that they lost, but it was still like a very even game.
11:15They all were, you know, they were all, they were all pretty close, pretty close.
11:18Competitive games.
11:19Yeah.
11:19So it's not a team where you can go, well, I mean, geez, this is all out of nowhere.
11:25If they lose this round, what can you say?
11:28There's, there's that, but it's not the same to me as if they were playing the lightning
11:31or a team to suspend so dominant over the years.
11:35I mean, there is still, and we, we saw this in round one.
11:39What, what did we talk about during the Bruins series?
11:42I mean, on Friday, this was a big point because here was game six and this has all been so
11:50much fun and it's never better than when it's unexpected.
11:55Like there's no real pressure here.
11:57Like with the bills, you know, all these points.
11:59And so they're going to Boston like, well, I appreciate how much fun this has been, but
12:05you cannot lose now.
12:07You're up three, one, right?
12:09You had the better season, home ice, chance to clinch at home goes to overtime.
12:13You lose.
12:14You can't lose the series now because then a lot of the satisfaction goes away.
12:20No, it is replaced definitely with disappointment.
12:23Yes.
12:23And now I think we have another level of that where it's still, imagine at Thanksgiving
12:32being disappointed if this Sabre season ended in the second round.
12:38I mean, that would have been ridiculous.
12:40Right.
12:41Would have been, I mean, other than sort of like the obvious, you never want to choose losing.
12:46But if this team from the beginning of last, of this season had topped out in the second
12:53round, we all would have been, that's awesome.
12:56You're back.
12:58Tell me how you did it.
12:59But at least we don't have the drought anymore.
13:02And you even won a round.
13:03I mean, not since 07 had they won a round anyway.
13:07I mean, I'm getting ahead of myself.
13:08I largely feel that way about this series.
13:11Like I hear like Montreal is not Tampa, but they did just beat Tampa.
13:16I think they're every bit of quality as you are.
13:19And from here, I mean, I might as well just get out some coins and start flipping them.
13:24I think it's going to be that close.
13:26And I do feel for me anyway, as a fan, my level of fulfillment, fulfillment is like you
13:34didn't blow the series against Boston.
13:36You're into the second round and I'm not going to say it's house money.
13:40It's all gravy or anything from here.
13:43But to me, anything can happen.
13:45And I'm going to find it hard to be like attacking whatever their shortcomings turn out to be,
13:50you know, if they were to lose.
13:52You know, I'm not saying that that can happen or won't happen.
13:56We're certainly not here to police it.
13:58I'm just telling you, for me, I just feel like the exhale of having lost game five and
14:04the opportunity at home to put to put Boston out and having to go back there again, like
14:11I was kind of holding my breath into Friday and like, OK, yeah, they did the thing.
14:17OK, we got another 10 days of this at least.
14:20And so we'll see.
14:23But I feel like the specter of it really being a disappointing outcome is almost off the table
14:32for me with the fact that they're into the second round, you know, regardless of who
14:38they're playing.
14:38So and because I think it's so close anyway, like Tampa, Montreal, Tampa, Montreal, I didn't
14:44I think it's it's the same series to me.
14:47I'd feel the same way going into it, regardless of who we're playing.
14:50What do you think the majority opinion on that was?
14:53Were you do you think you were in the majority like whatever?
14:55No, I think it Tampa was I would.
14:58Yeah, I think I would guess and I'm not trying to be contrarian because I definitely felt rate
15:03ranking these teams before the playoffs.
15:06Tampa was the one I wanted to avoid in round one the most.
15:09Right.
15:09Like that that to me.
15:11But once it got going and looking at those two teams playing one another, I sort of flipped.
15:15But again, it's not pronounced enough for it to even be, you know, much of a difference
15:20at all.
15:22Well, you know what you're you're big on faces.
15:25Right.
15:25Everyone Bulldog is known for this.
15:27He's being he's big on faces that he wants to punch punchable faces.
15:32I mean.
15:35Corey Perry.
15:36I'm going to have to get to work on Montreal here.
15:37Hagel.
15:38Oh, Hagel for sure.
15:40Cooper.
15:40Yeah.
15:40I mean, the goalie has a mask on Kucherov, Radish, Radish became, I don't know who, Ganchar
15:49or somebody for me from my past.
15:51He became somebody that I just like, oh, my God, this guy.
15:55I thought in game six.
15:57So that game, that's Friday night now, ancient history.
16:01But Friday night is Tampa at Montreal, then Buffalo at Boston.
16:05And Tampa starts half an hour earlier.
16:07So we're all there in time to watch the beginning of that game.
16:09And Radish has a look.
16:11This is the big 43 on Tampa with the slap shot.
16:15And he blasts it off the goalie's mask.
16:18Dobish.
16:19Got to get to know that name.
16:21Off the goalie's mask.
16:22And no one says anything, of course, right?
16:25Because they all work for the league.
16:26But they had close ups on the goalie.
16:28And he's like shaking his head and sort of, you know, just trying to remember who his
16:35name is, I think, maybe in that moment.
16:37Nobody says anything because you can't because whatever, you'll get fired.
16:41But I'm like, what do I go and do?
16:43And I tell Sam, too.
16:44I don't know if he went with me, if he tailed me on this.
16:46But I just went and bought all the Tampa overs for that game.
16:50Like this goalie is off.
16:51Yeah.
16:52And like the next play, he's behind the net and he gets stuck.
16:55Like he just can't find the puck.
16:57Comes right out.
16:58The Tampa guy puts it right through his legs, across the crease and out.
17:02I like to myself, I know I'm right.
17:04Like, this guy is struggling.
17:06He can get got right here.
17:07And what happens?
17:09Goes 0-0 to overtime.
17:10Yeah.
17:11He stabilized, I guess.
17:12I guess.
17:13I mean, all is good.
17:14Yeah.
17:14He's fine.
17:15Yeah, he was great last night again.
17:16He'll never feel it in his future.
17:18But yeah, right.
17:19He was great again last night.
17:21So anyway, Friday night seems like a long time ago.
17:24But what a beautiful night.
17:26You and I both went out after the game?
17:28Yes, I did.
17:29Separately?
17:30I didn't know you did.
17:31I did, yes.
17:31I did.
17:32Yeah.
17:33I had to.
17:34Same.
17:35Same.
17:35And I didn't even know, you know, Jeremy White from our morning show was at the bar
17:39that I would normally go to.
17:41He'd been there for the whole game.
17:42That's why I didn't go there.
17:43And we hadn't been in touch all night.
17:44Like, I didn't know he was there.
17:45I was just like, I'm going.
17:46That's where I'm going.
17:48And I walk in and he's there.
17:49And I just, it was, yeah, it was really nice.
17:52Really, really great.
17:53And the last two days, man, like, I don't know.
17:57Like, I'm in here every day with you.
18:00So I don't know how much of our audience would have been thinking about you before the playoffs
18:05got here.
18:05Like, I want this part to last.
18:07Man, having a weekend where you wake up on Saturday and one of the first things, if you're
18:12if you're like we are, I guess, I don't know, maybe my priorities are out of whack, like
18:17the first thing you think of when you open your eyes is they won.
18:20They're in the second round.
18:21Like, you know, I was joking around with some friends yesterday, getting up at 2 a.m.
18:26to go to the John, like Saturday morning, Sunday morning, like a little smile.
18:32I was like, yeah, back to bed.
18:36Let me get back under the covers.
18:37I mean, it's such a, it's just been so long since we've had it.
18:42And it just feels so great.
18:44So if you woke up at 2 o'clock in the morning Saturday to go to the bathroom, you were
18:48not
18:48at the airport.
18:49I did not go to the airport.
18:51That's correct.
18:51You've got me on that.
18:53Lots of people did.
18:54Yep.
18:55Good for them.
18:57Good for them.
18:57I was glad to see Darlene post the footage of it.
19:00That's how I found out about it.
19:01You know, me too.
19:03And although it didn't surprise me that there was a crowd there, I assume there would be.
19:08Darlene's Instagram post is best fans in the world.
19:11And what would he have said a year ago?
19:13I don't know.
19:16Yeah.
19:17I mean, I've never spoken with him.
19:18He'd never experienced anything like this here.
19:21Seven, eight years into his career.
19:24And he might've, I mean, how would you have been?
19:26You think respected the tradition of the team?
19:29This is my team.
19:30I'm the captain now.
19:31You know, I know enough people in seven years that I know that there's like a passion for
19:38this, but I go lots of games where I don't really sense it because we're out of it and
19:44it's more depressing than it is inspiring.
19:48So maybe he decided, maybe he thought five years ago, the Sabres had the best fans in
19:53the league, or maybe he decided that in February or yesterday, like just because now if you just
20:00woke up to this and we have been in and out of this kind of experience where we know how
20:05peaked it can be when it's this.
20:08And I mean, we are at that point right now.
20:11I wonder how much of a, of an impact, any of the games where they would have gotten a taste
20:18of it,
20:19even whether they had any impact on those guys or not, you know, like RJ night, Ryan Miller night,
20:27you know, 05, 06 night happened this year and they were already, they were already blazing hot by the time
20:32that
20:32happened, but there were, I've referenced a Minnesota home game on a Saturday night during football
20:38season from three or four years ago, a couple of times where the building was just packed and
20:43everyone was really into it.
20:44And on the way out, people were singing the shout song and it was just really, there's a half a
20:50dozen or more games during Darlene's career where I think he got the full dosage, but they've been
20:57rare.
20:58And I just wonder if those are things like when he would be, you know, hanging up his skates or
21:02his head
21:02hitting the pillow, like we need to get to where that's happening, you know, twice a week.
21:07Here and it took a long time, but there have been little pockets where you got the full
21:12thing.
21:13Well, if I were Darlene or a player on the team with any sort of time to think about that,
21:18I'd be very proud of what I and we have accomplished in bringing this all back.
21:25I mean, it's a symbiotic experience where the fans are feeding off the player's success and you can
21:32feel their passion and their, their, you know, brand loyalty, if you will, like it's
21:36believable.
21:37Like it always would be, you know, when a team is good, like they'd win for, if they played
21:41on the moon, they would want, you know, to win for each other and all of that.
21:45And of course the great fans of the moon, but you know, like that would, that would just
21:49organically happen.
21:50But I think it's goes the other way too.
21:52Like, I think you're sort of proud of each other if that's not too schmaltzy and yeah,
21:59like everybody's, everybody's smiling.
22:00I think you should know, you should know.
22:02Yeah.
22:03I think this is what happens.
22:04Maybe some of these guys have already talked about some of this to, to some extent.
22:08Um, I think you get a sense, you, you know, when you're a part of something that feels
22:12special because most of the time doesn't feel special, that's what makes special special.
22:18So a lot of the other time, probably in your NHL career, like it's a great life, but it's
22:24pretty ordinary.
22:25We're just sort of, we just, we got it.
22:26We got a game in Pittsburgh tomorrow.
22:28Uh, we got a game at home against Minnesota Friday or whatever.
22:31And you just sort of go through it.
22:33And then when you get a year and a, and a group that seems to just meld together, like
22:41this team has with the fans, I think, you know, that the, the, the overall is way bigger
22:47than you ever thought it could be.
22:49Well, Darlene deserves so much credit for it and the pass to talk to open the scoring
22:54on Friday night.
22:54I just loved that play.
22:56I mean, just watch it.
22:57It's one of those we could really break down, watch his sort of his legs open up, watch the
23:02puck from Darlene's tape to tucks because it comes off the ice.
23:09It's not a really a saucer pass.
23:11There's no time for that because it's so tight, but it's not just along the ice.
23:15I think it's more just like sort of a perfect, a little bit of an elevation and then talk has
23:20nothing to do, but bury it just, um, what a great start to that.
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