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00:00to our boys over the weekend.
00:02803-0550 for your calls and theories.
00:05I'm not giving up.
00:07Doesn't seem fair, even, to do that.
00:10They won 55 games and they lost two.
00:14They weren't pretty.
00:16Everything's being questioned.
00:19Lineup, effort.
00:22What else?
00:23I mean, everything is being questioned.
00:25Can they get the power play?
00:26Not the biggest problem of the weekend.
00:28No.
00:29No.
00:29Their defending was a way bigger problem than anything.
00:34And I did not really anticipate that.
00:38For all the talk about the – it's part of the reason why the river hockey thing
00:41I thought was like – didn't really fit to begin with when whoever said it
00:46said it.
00:46And it was shortly after that 8-7 Tampa game.
00:49I mean, I understand why anecdotally you might get there.
00:51But if you really watch this team this year, yes, there's high-end skill
00:56and they're using their defensemen and they're very aggressive in that way.
00:59So, maybe that equates to some observers considering that to be risk-taking,
01:04which is basically what river hockey is, that they're living on the high wire.
01:09But defensively, they were so good.
01:14And especially at being able to just close out games, just kind of shut it down when
01:19they wanted to or felt they needed to.
01:20They were very successful at that.
01:22And so, no, you're not going to do that for an entire game against a team that's got
01:26as much talent as Montreal.
01:28But neither should there be such a disparity in, like, high danger chances, the shots from
01:35the slot chances are way crooked in these last two games.
01:41The Sabres have just been giving up for – it's funny, like, after game one, it was that
01:46the Montreal coach, Martin St-Louis, said, we're going to have to adjust because we've
01:51got more room out there to operate than we were used to in the first series against Tampa.
01:56And I wondered if he's – like, is he trying to get the Sabres or Ruff to change some tactic
02:02by saying that?
02:03Now I'm just ready to have taken him at his word.
02:06I think he observed that we've got more room.
02:08I think he told his team, you've got more room, therefore more time to make more plays.
02:12And he's been right.
02:13They've had a ton of time to make enough plays to win these games pretty comfortably.
02:20And I'm really stunned by that.
02:22Like, you can lose your scoring touch.
02:25You know, this guy's hurt, this guy's – who knows, right?
02:28Norris, Thompson, defending, effort, back-checking, Tuck and Thompson on the third goal last night.
02:38They're just ghosts on that play.
02:40And I don't really understand that coming now.
02:44Especially, again, at 2-1 in the second period of this game is what we're talking about here.
02:50And I just don't understand that lack of attentiveness to the situation that they were in there.
02:57I think this is a common thing that can be mislabeled because they're not lazy.
03:03We know that about these guys.
03:05They're not bums.
03:06So what happens, maybe not specifically there, but in these kind of situations, is I think you're just a little
03:13bit hesitant.
03:14You're not as sure of yourself.
03:16Your confidence might be waning.
03:17The whole atmosphere and the stakes and everything can mean the slightest difference where you just are not as ready
03:28for a certain moment.
03:31And I don't mean that to be dramatic.
03:33I mean, just like on that particular play, it shouldn't be as glaring defensively as maybe it should be offensively.
03:41Where that's Thompson in game two, where he wipes out.
03:44Like, um, um, um, oh.
03:48Yeah.
03:48And just like, that is hesitation and not being on top of it, like where you know what you want
03:55to do.
03:55And it's just doesn't look perfect to you and you just lose it.
03:58Um, not, not much of an excuse for it defensively, but I think it's somewhat a function of the same
04:03thing where, or it can be.
04:05I don't know what's in their heads where you're just like, he's got it or, you know, goalies, whatever, just
04:12like it's a little bit late.
04:13Yeah.
04:14And I think they have to know now that there's no room for that left.
04:18Yeah.
04:18Yeah.
04:19It can be, I think like anything in life where you don't think you've got a big problem on your
04:26hands.
04:26So you're not proactive, you're sort of watching and then in the, in the, and it only takes a moment.
04:33I mean, to, to fall behind a guy rushing to the net for an offensive chance, it's not like you
04:38got to stand there and stand still for five seconds.
04:40Like the moment you just, for whatever reason, like you're suggesting you freeze for just a second or not even
04:48a second.
04:48There's just a moment of hesitation and the guy's by you.
04:52And like, now like, Oh, this is bad.
04:54I didn't think it was bad.
04:56I didn't think I was needed.
04:57Even, uh, we were in good shape here, but we're not because now this guy and all just chasing the,
05:05by the time you get there with the bugs in the net.
05:07Right.
05:07End of the play.
05:09What do you think?
05:10803-0550.
05:11Let's go to Dave here.
05:12Hi, Dave.
05:13Hey guys.
05:14Thanks for taking my call.
05:15I'd like to invoke a, uh, an additional one word phrase, uh, referencing the late Casey Kasem and Shaggy, uh,
05:25by saying zoinks.
05:26Uh, was exactly how I was feeling.
05:29Honorable mention.
05:30Over the weekend.
05:31And then, um, just a question for you guys.
05:35I mean, do you think that all is likely or possible that Constell Hellenius will see the lineup?
05:41And where does he go?
05:42Who comes out?
05:43I think everything's on the table right now.
05:45So just curious to hear your thoughts.
05:46Uh, it certainly is possible.
05:48The clues to me aren't encouraging for it to happen.
05:52And by that, I just simply mean he, he's one of the few guys that skated today.
05:57And all the guys that skated are guys that seem like long shots for the lineup to me.
06:02Um, and that includes Lucanen too, by the way, Lucanen and Ellis both took part.
06:06I think there was like five skaters and two goalies.
06:08So that could mean anything for Lucanen though.
06:11That could mean I need to get some work because I'm going in.
06:14Uh, so I don't want to rule that out.
06:16Um, and Kesselring was not amongst the regular scratches who did skate today.
06:23So him being sort of in the main team group might be a clue that they're leaning that way.
06:30Um, but we'll see.
06:31I mean, the, the game, it's not like it's the day of a game.
06:34So anyone could have skated hard today and still be available.
06:37Um, I would not put Hellenius in yet myself.
06:41I mean, I'm, I'm interested in him long range, but I think this series game four on the road
06:50with the way these two games have gone, it, to me, it's just such a long shot that he's
06:56going to get you something.
06:57Um, and I know like, who's he replaced?
07:00Zucker's the obvious replacement.
07:01I think he only played six and a half minutes last night.
07:04He hasn't produced really at all through the playoffs.
07:08Really?
07:09So I don't even need really there.
07:11He just hasn't produced period.
07:13There's nothing there.
07:14So you could make a change.
07:18I just, I'd be surprised if given what Paul is describing, and I've heard other reporters
07:22who were there and have been to many, many, many dozens of games in Montreal that said
07:27the atmosphere in the building was like nothing they'd ever experienced before at a hockey
07:32game, uh, just really, really emotionally charged.
07:37I expect more of that tomorrow night.
07:39I don't think Lindy rough is throwing Hellenius in there.
07:42And I don't think I would either.
07:43It doesn't seem like a Lindy move, but I want to know first what the deal is with Zucker.
07:50Do I have an injury?
07:51Nobody's saying that like nobody's even seemingly hinting at that.
07:57So what have I got?
07:59Is it just too much for a guy who's been an important, especially offensive player for
08:06them?
08:07Like what, what is the deal then?
08:09And I think last night is very curious because they're down all night.
08:14Well, I mean, not 52 seconds in, but once it's two one, like they're, they're scrambling
08:19kind of all night.
08:20And I know he's not like, again, like a Selkie finalist or somebody like that, but I need goals.
08:26And I mean, rough can be kind of hardheaded sometimes.
08:30Like I think maybe they've battled and I gotta, I gotta get the puck in the net.
08:38So is rough going to play him?
08:40If he's going to sit him, I don't need him.
08:42If he's going to sit him, play Hellenius instead, like easily.
08:45No, no, quite no doubt about it.
08:47If Zucker's just going to sit there and play less than a fourth line role, what's the point?
08:52Just because he's old, older than I have to do that?
08:55No, he either plays a regular shift and maybe you're scrambling lines.
08:59Maybe you're not, but you're trying to get something out of them because he's been close
09:03and like, you're either doing that or he's coming out because you just don't think there's
09:09enough there.
09:10I don't think there should be an in-between.
09:11I don't know what happened last night.
09:13He didn't have to sit.
09:15Nope.
09:15Easy to say he's hurt.
09:16Didn't say that.
09:17You heard Paul talk about how rough kind of tried to play both ends.
09:21When describing the situation, that's over.
09:24He either gets a shift and I can maybe squeeze a power play goal out of him or I can
09:29get a
09:29bounce out of him as close as he's been or I replace him.
09:32I don't think there's anything else that really works.
09:35Disagree?
09:38You don't think Hellenius is ready?
09:41That's fine.
09:41Zucker plays 14 minutes then.
09:44If I had a player that has offensive upside who had played 60 games here this year, I
09:53would put him in for Zucker.
09:55I don't think I put Hellenius in with how inexperienced he is.
10:00Everything you just said about Zucker is 100% valid.
10:03There's nothing in there for me to really disagree about.
10:07Um, I just don't think you're putting Hellenius in for him in this spot.
10:13I just don't think.
10:14I wouldn't do it either.
10:15And I'd be stunned if rough did.
10:17Does not seem like a Lindy move.
10:20That's right.
10:21Right.
10:22But without being, without sounding like I'm trying to whack at him, it's kind of why I
10:29want to do it.
10:30I wanted Lucanen to play in Boston.
10:31I wanted, uh, who the other night, Carrick in for Kozak in game two.
10:37Right.
10:38What?
10:38You won the last game, so you can't?
10:40And then they lost every draw.
10:41Like, I don't know.
10:43I'll be wrong too.
10:44But there's a little bit of just two safe vets, what we just won with.
10:52And now in goal, this was always coming.
10:55The only, the only way this wasn't coming in their goaltending situation was if they
11:03won out.
11:03Right.
11:04And Lyon just never lost.
11:05And he gets through this series in four or five games, and then it's a week off or whatever
11:10that would be.
11:10Like, it wouldn't be a week off, but still.
11:12Where you just never need to worry about his workload.
11:15Now you're asking him to do something he's never done.
11:17And it's piling up.
11:19And no, these goals really don't look like they're his fault, but the goals are piling
11:24up.
11:25And you might feel like you can't go to Lucanen now because it's been what?
11:31Two weeks?
11:33It's almost exactly what it's been.
11:35Tomorrow would be two weeks?
11:37Yeah.
11:37Tuesday?
11:37Yeah.
11:39That's what happens.
11:40Like, they needed to always, I don't want to keep going because I sound like I just, here's
11:45all the things they're doing wrong.
11:46They're all debatable, right?
11:48That would not have been an easy call, and almost no coach would have made it, putting
11:52Lucanen in at 2-1 up against Boston.
11:54Right.
11:54Because Lyon goes in, he does great, they win in Boston, who's taking them out?
11:57All right.
11:59But the clear end point was like, right now, when you face any adversity, and now you're
12:07asking Lyon, when has he ever been, you know, a number one in his career?
12:12Hardly ever.
12:13And it's, you know, he's in his 30s.
12:15Yeah.
12:15And now, with the intensity turned up to 11, you need him like, well, there's no question
12:21here, you just gotta play it out.
12:23I don't know.
12:24Like, I can't tell you how he's feeling.
12:26He seems pretty loose, and he's been really good for them, but I think that's always been
12:30really risky.
12:31He's played a lot of hockey, and he's not a guy that has a lot of experience playing
12:35a lot of hockey.
12:36So, yeah, I mean, I think, I could definitely see Ruff making that switch, and I also would
12:44make it.
12:45I'm not gonna stand up and freak out, because Lyon has been good, and there's a danger in
12:51making it look like you're blaming him for the 11, well, it's nine goals.
12:54There's empty netters each night.
12:56Um, but you, you, that's, you gotta do something, or maybe you don't, but I think you gotta do
13:03something, and I think I would get their attention by putting Lucanen in now, and I might get
13:10the kind of defensive effort that is gonna be required to at least belong on the ice
13:14with this team, let alone beat them.
13:17Let's go to Mike here.
13:18Hi, Mike.
13:19Gentlemen, how are we doing on this nice, cloudy, sunny day-ish?
13:23That was a lot of words that didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I'm fine.
13:26Thank you for asking.
13:27Uh, so I want to talk about, I understand the idea that we want to take, change Zucker
13:32up, get him going, but Owen, uh, before game one against Boston mentioned that in order
13:38to get goals against Swayman, we need to get screens on them, and Zucker did a really good
13:42job, in my opinion, of getting screens on Swayman, and that's how we're able to get goals
13:46contributed.
13:47I'm kind of concerned that we're not doing the same thing now.
13:51I'm curious if you think, why are we changing our game plan, getting away from these screens?
13:57I understand that, you know, as the series progresses, we've got to change some things
14:01up, but I just, I'm just, that was our game plan against Swayman, I understand now it kind
14:07of changes, but I just kind of see what we want to think on that.
14:10I don't know that I know really what this difference you're talking about is.
14:14I mean, Darlene's goal was on a screen last night.
14:18They've had two goals in this series where the goal is looking the other way.
14:22Byram's goal in game one was...
14:23Byram in game one, right?
14:25Yep.
14:26So, I don't know, I can't really build on the premise here that they're...
14:29I would try, I don't know about how, maybe, it sounds to me like you're overstating some
14:36of what you're recognizing as different tactics.
14:40I would say you don't attack every goalie the same way.
14:42Certainly, any guy you want to say, we need to get traffic here, because, you know, it's
14:50standard.
14:52If they are less attentive to that, or less, they're desiring that outcome less, like they're
15:01less worried about making sure they get traffic, it might be because this goalie has a reputation
15:07for being very aggressive.
15:09And so, rather than trying to take away his vision, they're trying to leave themselves
15:14the opportunity to play laterally on him.
15:18Because if you can get him to think you're shooting, he's going to really focus on you,
15:22and that should open up something on a flank, right?
15:26Like, if I'm staring him down from 25 feet away, and he thinks a shot's coming, he's
15:32been acting a certain way, which is usually, again, very aggressive.
15:35So, this is one of the books on him coming in.
15:38I mean, it's not a guy that you've got a long book on, because he's pretty new, but that
15:42you can, he can overplay, and that he's vulnerable there.
15:45So, it's possible that they have tried to exploit that by not being as concerned with traffic
15:51and being more concerned with getting passes for tap-ins into empty nets.
15:55All right.
15:56It's not, neither thing is happening.
15:58So, you might want to just go back to simple, you know, get some traffic, throw some pucks
16:02at the net, and see if you can bang a couple in.
16:04But I think, tactically, they may have pivoted because of this goalie's rep.
16:09There you go, Mike.
16:09Bulldog did better for you than I did.
16:11Here's Joe next.
16:12Hi, Joe.
16:13How are you?
16:14Hi, Joe.
16:16Yeah, the goaltender thing, man, like, do you change goaltenders because he's tired,
16:22or to shake it up?
16:23Like, I just want your thoughts on, like, Matt's going to be coached right now?
16:27Like, is he tired?
16:29Would you change him?
16:30Like, the team in front of him is a problem.
16:32It's not the goal setting.
16:33I think the goal setting is okay.
16:36Like, what do you guys think?
16:37Well, that's what we were talking about here.
16:39Like, he's not a guy that has a lot of experience, Joe, in playing as a number one for, like,
16:45you know, a couple of weeks consecutively.
16:48There's, you know, he had a little break here after the Boston series.
16:51But I think fatigue could be emotional and physical fatigue could be a factor.
16:58That's what we can't know.
16:59Yeah, that's what we don't know.
17:01But if they think that that is possible right now, then I think it's all the more reason
17:08to make the switch.
17:09They also might not know, right?
17:12We definitely, we don't get access to him.
17:14And if we did, we'd ask him, are you tired?
17:17And he'd say, no, I feel great.
17:18And that might be what he'd tell Ruff.
17:20Yeah.
17:21Probably would be.
17:22So they have to make a call on that, and that's not an easy call.
17:26But I think, like Bulldog is saying, I think a lot of people feel this way, and Paul as
17:30well, you could do it for the other reason.
17:34Get everyone's attention.
17:35Hockey coaches, and I'm not saying they're wrong, it's logical, feel like they're getting,
17:40there's an effect to that.
17:43That, you know, you and I are teammates, and I screw up, but they punish you.
17:48How do I feel?
17:50Anybody on the team is going to tell you, like, it's not the goalie's fault.
17:53Right.
17:54But if the goalie gets benched, you could take that personally.
17:57You know, like, that's what it's about.
17:58That's why it's done.
17:59And it's not as though Lucanen is, you know, it's already been said today, but just to
18:04say it again today, right now, they have been co-number ones really all year long.
18:09So it's not like you have a guy, you're not pulling Connor Hellebook out after the team
18:15falls asleep in front of him, and they give up nine, he gives up nine goals over the course
18:20of two games in a playoff series, so you're going to play, you know, Mike Comrie, thank
18:25you.
18:25Eric Comrie.
18:25Eric Comrie, right.
18:28This is a guy that's, to me, just as capable as Lyon, so the pivot doesn't have to be as
18:36dramatic from what you should expect performance-wise from the guy.
18:41There shouldn't be a drop-off necessarily from one guy to the other, and if you get the
18:46bump from shock value guilting the other guys, then good, because I need something.
18:54They have not been on point here two games in a row, so maybe this is the move here.
19:00I'll bet this is the thing.
19:02Way more than figuring out what to do with Jason Zucker and Kosta Hellenus, I would bet
19:07the thing that the coaches are talking about is this, whether to pull the trigger on a goalie
19:12switch.
19:12I would add that, like I said, when Paul was on, maybe, as was the case in game two, and
19:18even in terms of Montreal in game one, I think the losing team starting goalie was maybe one
19:24goal away from getting pulled already.
19:26And I think if, like Paul said it this way, right?
19:30If it's only 4-1, not 4-2, going into the third, maybe they do it.
19:34And you do it, you do that with a mind to play Lion in game four, like you're just giving
19:40him a break.
19:41You know, have a seat, have a drink of water, take a shower, all right?
19:46Right.
19:46So that's why you pull them, but they didn't.
19:49Now, that doesn't mean anything necessarily, but I think you had that, that was there.
19:55Had the game, had games two or three gotten, like, really out of hand?
19:59Before, it was kind of over.
20:01Right.
20:01Eventually, they did get out of hand, but it was too late.
20:03Right.
20:04Yeah, after the empty net goals were scored, you're not taking them out then.
20:06You don't pull a guy with five minutes left.
20:07Yeah, it's stupid.
20:08Right.
20:09All right, let's go to Sean.
20:10Hi, Sean.
20:11Hey, guys.
20:13Hi.
20:14I was thinking, Stanley, on the Bulldog, do you remember the play where they scored the
20:20goal and Stanley broke his stick over the net?
20:23I don't know which goal he broke his stick over the net, but if it's the one where he botched
20:27the pass.
20:28The one that he made the bad play.
20:29Right, yeah, okay.
20:30Yeah, well, he should have, he should have, yeah, well, he should have been mad.
20:32He made a terrible, it was an easy pass, and he made a terrible play.
20:35I have a problem with him breaking his stick over the net, but he broke it and he swung.
20:40He almost drilled the Montreal player.
20:43I don't know if it was the guy that scored the goal or one of the players, but it was,
20:46if you look at the video again, go look at it.
20:48He was really close to when he swung his stick through, he almost drilled the Montreal guy.
20:54And no one, I noticed it and I rewound it and I was like, oh my gosh, that would have
20:58really been really bad.
21:00But I never liked Stanley, so I always felt like he should be, I'm fine with him taking
21:05him out.
21:06I don't care who they put in, whether it's, you know, you want to put Kesselring in there
21:09because they think he's a little faster.
21:11Sure, great.
21:12You know.
21:15Thanks, Sean.
21:16I would do that.
21:17That would be easy for me.
21:18I would do that if I'm going to play him.
21:20The last time they had to play Kesselring, he played four minutes.
21:23So this is a little bit like the opposite of the Zucker point, right?
21:26Like if Zucker's going to dress, then play him.
21:29Well, no, it's the same point.
21:30I want to, I want, if you're going to make that change because you think Stanley is hurting
21:36you or it's a different kind of matchup, it's not as physical.
21:38So I want to have someone a little fleet or a foot in the lineup.
21:43Okay.
21:44Play him.
21:45Like if, if, if you're not going to play him, then I don't know what you're, what we're
21:49doing here.
21:50If you don't have an alternative, I recognize this is the third D pair, but still that should
21:54be 14 minutes, not four.
21:59So I, so I, I'm a little worried about Kesselring as a pivot simply because I think when it gets
22:07to the game, Ruff has shown a few different times that he doesn't trust him.
22:13So what's the point of having someone in the lineup that I don't trust, I should put someone
22:18else in the lineup that I'm going to trust.
22:20And if that's not Stanley and it's not Kesselring, then that's Meza.
22:24And I think that should be available to them speed and skill and moving the puck.
22:29Well are what he does.
22:32So I think that that might be the fit that makes the most sense to me to counteract what's
22:38happening here.
22:39And I'm getting hemmed in my own end, but I don't know that it seems like maybe he's
22:45eighth on the depth chart now.
22:47Well, I think those are all interesting options.
22:51If it's not going to be a regular shift and that's, you know, what, without special teams,
22:56that might be 12 minutes for the third pair D somewhere around that.
23:01They, they, they have to win tomorrow.
23:03Like you, if that means 30 minutes for Darlene, then it does.
23:06Like you, you gotta, you gotta do what you gotta do tomorrow.
23:10Yeah.
23:11And I like Paul's logic on Stanley in that, like they've got him to play the lightning and
23:16now, and Boston.
23:16And now they're playing this team and it's not working, I would do the same thing.
23:21And I also wouldn't be afraid to play Kesselring, but I don't think it's as important that you
23:25make that level of commitment necessarily, because I got to do whatever it takes tomorrow
23:30night to get this thing even, or else I'm down bad.
23:33And that means play all my guys, you know, as much as is possible.
23:39I think they have not, I don't know.
23:42I'm going to say they don't, they haven't had a close game.
23:43These games are close enough.
23:45If it's two goal game in the third period, like all these games have been, they're all
23:48the same game.
23:49Yeah.
23:50You know, goes to the second, it's two goal difference.
23:52And can the other team catch up?
23:54They get a sniff at it.
23:55Then it doesn't happen.
23:56It's over.
23:57Yeah.
23:59Just, you gotta win tomorrow.
24:00Yeah.
24:01See everything you just said there, gotta win.
24:04Like you gotta have this game.
24:06And I'm going to put a guy in that the last time I put him in, I didn't trust him
24:10to play
24:10more than four minutes.
24:11It's like, that doesn't really add up to me.
24:13Maybe they won't do it.
24:14Yeah.
24:14I don't know.
24:15If you do, however, notice a rattle in your ducts or a rise in your heating and cooling
24:20bills, give Belknap a ring.
24:22With 0% financing, the cost of upgrading to a high efficiency dual fuel heating system
24:27is a breeze.
24:28Learn more at BelknapHeating.com.
24:30That's BelknapHeating.com.
24:31Go green.
24:32Save energy.
24:32Save money with Belknap.
24:34Schedule a free estimate on your new installation.
24:36Give Belknap a ring at 688-1728.
24:39For more comfort and less ka-ching, give Belknap a ring.
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