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00:01Yeah, wow, that's tough.
00:04That is tough.
00:05Anyway, where were we?
00:06I can't believe they won that game.
00:08So I asked my wife if she thought the Sabres were lucky to win,
00:12and she didn't want to say yes.
00:14Do you want to say they were?
00:16I mean, you get the goal to tie it.
00:20I mean, that's incredible good fortune.
00:25But no, I mean, that play was lucky.
00:28I just mean the way it's all encapsulating.
00:31No, I do not think they were lucky.
00:34I mean, that was a lucky goal, and without it, I mean, I don't know.
00:38I mostly can't believe they stabilized after the second period.
00:43I thought they were just so coming undone with the penalties,
00:47and it was all the main guys, like Thompson and Darlene twice
00:53and Zucker and Byram and just what is happening.
00:58They're not going to survive a third period if they keep doing this.
01:02And so the other side of that coin is during the second intermission,
01:05I'm saying, like, okay, kill a penalty because you've got like 220 left
01:09on the Byram double minor.
01:11Kill this, and then just play a good third period.
01:15And they did that.
01:16And I've watched this team all year, but the way the game had been going
01:20for 40 minutes with the penalties, I just thought they were – I thought
01:25they couldn't keep up, and they're just going to keep taking penalties.
01:29I was really – for the first time in the playoffs really legitimately worried
01:33about whether they would have an answer.
01:36And yet again, they did.
01:38They killed that penalty off and completely stabilized.
01:41Did they not take another penalty the rest of the third period?
01:45I think they were even strength the rest of the way.
01:47Well, they got the power play on which they scored.
01:50Right.
01:50And then I think maybe, yes, it was there.
01:52I don't think they played shorthanded the rest of the way.
01:55I'm pretty sure they didn't.
01:56Just the empty net.
01:57And so, right.
01:59So, I mean, that turned it around for them.
02:01They mostly locked the game down.
02:04We've seen that before.
02:05Yeah, that's not a surprise, but coming on the heels of all the undisciplined stuff,
02:12I just thought – I was really worried.
02:14Like, I got – like, Byram – I had a buddy of mine that's been texting me
02:17about Byram since, like, game two of this series.
02:20Like, watch him.
02:21Good or bad?
02:22Bad.
02:23Watch him closely.
02:24That could be me.
02:24I think he's tired, and he's standing still a lot.
02:28And, you know, game one they won.
02:31Game two I was at.
02:32You know how that is, like, as far as watching goes, like, for that sort of observation.
02:36I did not spend my night watching Byram, right?
02:40Game three I was at a huge – not huge, but a big gathering.
02:44You know, again, a lot of socializing.
02:46I wasn't, like, focusing on individual guys.
02:51Man, last night, every time I felt like I looked at him, he was standing still.
02:56Somebody put it in your head.
02:57Yeah.
02:58Just, like, waiting for the – where's the – there was a shift.
03:01I can't – I know they were going left or right, but I honestly do not remember if
03:04it was the first or the third period where Power throws it, like, from one corner to
03:10the other behind the net for Byram basically to go chase down.
03:14And I swear to you, in this moment, his body language was, like, way over there!
03:21And he went, and then a few seconds after that, like, he didn't do anything good with it.
03:26A few seconds after that, he had it, like, midway up the wall and threw it back into traffic.
03:33And I was like, he is shot right now.
03:36What is he doing?
03:37He's, like, willfully throwing the puck back into a schmozzle because he can't think of a
03:42better thing to do.
03:43I don't know.
03:43Anyway, and I saw, like, he was one of the worst players on the ice last night in any
03:48game.
03:50So –
03:51The point is made.
03:52I'm a little – so anyway, I was worried about all of that.
03:55Are there more guys?
03:56Are these penalties a symptom of they are starting to, like, teeter on the brink of being on E
04:02here or maybe flat out on E?
04:04Well, isn't to sort of play a little bit of devil's advocate in a positive way, if you
04:09can do that, isn't it even a better sign that that didn't happen?
04:12Yes.
04:13Given what the first 40 minutes were.
04:15That's why I started – you know, the way I started with, I can't believe they won
04:18that game, is because all that was mounting evidence to me that they might be in real
04:23trouble.
04:23And then they just came out and played pretty much a perfect third period and won the
04:27game.
04:27You know, I don't think I need you on this.
04:30But I would love to hear anybody else.
04:33There's one caller we get that might be the one.
04:35Hopefully it's someone else.
04:36I like this caller, but hopefully it's someone else.
04:38Power was man of the match.
04:41That guy.
04:41I mean, Benson – it's time to accept Benson as our horse.
04:45Right.
04:46I just like – you know, I don't want to even disparage Thompson.
04:50I mean, Thompson gets that goal, say what you will, and like, he's important.
04:56But Benson is like, he's the guy you need.
04:59Right?
05:00Yes.
05:00In fantasy, we have – who was the guy you needed to draft to have a chance to win?
05:04Benson is the guy you need to win this series.
05:06Doan is adjacent to Benson.
05:08Power was man of the match.
05:10Power played 29 shifts.
05:15Didn't quite lead them in minutes because of Samuelson, who also had a bounce-back game, Samuelson.
05:20Scoring helps.
05:21Scoring helps, but he blocked a ton of shots and killed a ton of plays.
05:26I mean, the penalty kill was their secret sauce last night.
05:30They could have been absolutely buried with all those penalties that I'm referring to,
05:34but the good news is they only gave up the one.
05:36But can somebody in this fan base acknowledge Owen Power in a positive way, please, ever?
05:41No.
05:42Not going to happen?
05:43Yeah, I mean, you can.
05:43I've tried.
05:44We've tried.
05:46And, yes, I think there are definitely big factions of the fan base that recognizes and appreciates him.
05:51But, you know, we live in a time – I think a lot of hockey towns are like this.
05:55He's not mean enough, and like that – so he doesn't get credit for any of the good, skillful stuff
06:00he does,
06:01which is a lot.
06:02It's really his entire game.
06:03Well, if he were six inches shorter and had the name Shope instead of Power, he would get credit.
06:08I think that's probably right.
06:09But he doesn't, and therefore, he's got – he's supposed to be – I mean, just like, can somebody give
06:16him credit?
06:18That doesn't need to happen.
06:20They're fine.
06:21They're hopefully not listening to the noise.
06:24Last night's great.
06:26Everything you said, like, it's another paintball to the face of the whole momentum stuff.
06:33Here's Lindy Ruff talking about it.
06:34They don't know what else to say.
06:36Like, where was the momentum again?
06:37Tell me who had the momentum going into this game and halfway through this game and then into the third
06:43period.
06:43Can you just tell me – explain – can anybody explain that?
06:46No.
06:46Why not?
06:47Because it's meaningless.
06:49And what you need is what?
06:52You need some reliable structure.
06:56You need a pretty decent level of goaltending.
07:00And then you need – and Ruff has said this, too, probably a thousand times – you need to be
07:05opportunistic.
07:06And there's Benson.
07:07Thompson whiffs on the pass.
07:09He wants to shoot there, but he literally whiffs on it.
07:12He almost gave it away again.
07:14He almost – he didn't fall this time.
07:16Unchallenged, yeah.
07:16But he just whiffs on it, has enough space where he can get it back down low to Doan,
07:21and then look at Benson in that one second in front of the net, surrounded by Montreal.
07:28Surrounded.
07:29Skate, backhand, roof.
07:32Right.
07:32Oh, easy game.
07:34That guy.
07:35The legend just continues to grow.
07:38Sure.
07:40Compounded by the footage of him singing, Don't Stop Believing.
07:43Sure.
07:44Before a face-off.
07:45That was while they were protecting the lead.
07:48He's just out there, like he's mouthing the words, and someone comes up to him and says something.
07:52Like, uh-oh.
07:52Yeah, what?
07:53What are we doing?
07:55I mean, he's just – yeah.
07:57It's off the charts, this guy.
07:59It is kind of that.
08:01This will all end at some point.
08:03And then will be time for perspective, like we have about the playoffs 20 years ago.
08:09You know, like just what we remember and how it went and who was good and who wasn't as good.
08:15This guy is carving a legend out here increasingly by each game.
08:24Like, they were all over him in game one.
08:27He was a story going into this series.
08:29And then he makes the play immediately.
08:32First goal, boom.
08:34Benson.
08:35Oh, well, let's talk about him in game two.
08:37The Sabres are inept in game two.
08:39Except for Benson, who makes the play of the series.
08:43And then here's game three, and he's on the board again, isn't he?
08:46In game three, I think he had at least a point.
08:49I don't know.
08:50It's a blur.
08:50And then last night, you get the winner.
08:54Which, by the way, thank you for having that be the last goal of the game.
08:56I just wanted to say that once.
08:57Yeah, it worked out well for you.
08:59And the whole thesis of that play was he would score an empty net goal when he scores at four
09:04minutes.
09:05Like, no way that's going to hold up.
09:06Right.
09:07And it did.
09:07And it somehow did.
09:08Yeah.
09:09Oh, you got to love it.
09:11I just, this is back to, this is 2006, where today I was just thinking about talking to you
09:18and having this, you know, this great privilege and thinking like, man, I wish we had a week to just
09:23kind of sit right here
09:26and not rush into the next one.
09:30Right.
09:30Because you've got the goalie switch that paid off.
09:36You've got Helenus going in.
09:40And, I mean, he should have scored twice.
09:42I mean, credit to Dobish.
09:44But, I mean, those, I mean, just tremendous.
09:46You can't blame him for either shot.
09:47No.
09:48And the passes are great from Zucker.
09:50Passes were very good.
09:51I think the second one was better than the first, but still.
09:54Yeah, me too.
09:54And the first one, he sort of put toward the middle of the net, which is a favor to the
09:58guy coming from one side to the other.
10:00So, you know, that was not as, the second shot hit the post.
10:04So, I mean, he was so close on the second one.
10:06But, really, his whole game is the point.
10:11The fact, you know, yes, he had those open looks and, you know, a 4-2 game there at any
10:15one of those moments would have been great.
10:17But he played great start to finish, and he's out there pretty late.
10:22I don't remember if it was a minute and a half or two.
10:25I just know it was like, I'd already tweeted garage, okay, and they're hanging on, you know, trying to get
10:32this thing home.
10:33And here's 20-year-old Helenus on the ice, which is a great sign.
10:38Lindy has done this sort of thing throughout his career.
10:41He doesn't do it all the time.
10:42There's guys he just never will trust.
10:44And here is Helenus' first playoff game ever, and he's, go play.
10:50I trust you.
10:50Well, this is another one where I could use a week to just reflect on that.
10:54I mean, mea culpa to Lindy from me because I just didn't think he would do it with Helenus.
11:03I just didn't think he would do it because he loves his veterans, right, and experience.
11:08And I still – I'll never forget him benching Vanek in the Carolina series, you know, which was so tight.
11:14Like, you know what?
11:15You need a goal, right?
11:16Like, here's a guy who can just make a goal.
11:18Yeah.
11:19He was a rookie, and there were reasons not to do that.
11:22But I just didn't expect Ruff to get to Helenus, and I just love that he did.
11:27I wanted it, and he was rewarded.
11:31I mean, to put it mildly, he was rewarded.
11:33And also – and this I would have expected from Ruff because I think he's shown this – if he's
11:41going to dress him, he's not going to hide him.
11:43Right.
11:44That's what I'm saying, like, what a sign to have him out there at 3-2 inside, like, the last
11:49two and a half, three minutes of the game, whatever it is, maybe even later than that.
11:53Like, that is – that's – this guy's not coming out territory is what that is.
11:59Like, that is – I trust you to do – if you trust him to do that, you trust him
12:03to do anything.
12:04He's not coming out tomorrow.
12:05In the playoffs.
12:06I mean, you're just not – you're not –
12:08Right?
12:09No, absolutely not.
12:10Is Shen coming out tomorrow?
12:13I don't know.
12:14They won.
12:15They won?
12:16Seven minutes of what?
12:17I don't know what that was, but –
12:18Right.
12:19What do you want to do there?
12:21The penalty kill was good, and he largely was on that, right?
12:25Of his seven minutes, like, three of them penalty kill?
12:28There were a couple scary moments.
12:31So, I mean –
12:32I bet they don't think they have a better idea.
12:35I think you might be right.
12:36That's kind of what got us to him playing last night.
12:40I think they think now he's their best idea, and why would that not be the same thing going into
12:47Game 5?
12:47Right.
12:49Lukanen – I mean, I was worried about today at the end of the first period.
12:57Oh, gosh, yes.
12:58The 2-1 goal.
12:59The 2-1 goal was –
13:00It's the Swayman-Thompson goal.
13:01It's everything we talked about yesterday with him.
13:05That whole sequence, he's off.
13:09He's late the whole time to the extent that –
13:13and I've said this many times about not just him, but any goalie, but certainly he's prone to it.
13:19Yeah, the space that is created there is because he rams himself into the post so hard,
13:25because he's sliding over so fast, because he's behind.
13:30So, if he is sound and has his left pad on the ice, there's no goal there.
13:35But he is off balance.
13:37He hits the post, leans into the post, his left leg comes up, puck goes right under the left pad.
13:42And I'm just like, this is exactly what we're talking about.
13:45But then, right, what's the other piece of his intriguing equation?
13:50His athleticism and his size afford you a certain amount of spectacular.
13:56And the 2-1 timer stops on Caulfield, I'm here to tell you Lyon can't make that save.
14:01He's made that save.
14:02But it's definitely easier if you need every inch of your 6'5 body to get your left skate or
14:09pad on that shot.
14:11It's a good thing you're 6'5".
14:13And he got there, you know, the one was up higher, the other one was down low.
14:17And it was tipped.
14:18He did the splits to get there.
14:20Right.
14:21There was one that was tipped into him.
14:23Maybe that's the first one.
14:24And he gets his skate to the post for that save.
14:27Okay.
14:28Unless there's another.
14:29There were lots of these.
14:29Yeah.
14:30But those two, the two on Caulfield in the second period to me,
14:34were like the end of the first period is absolutely why you get leery of him.
14:39But then in the second period, those Caulfield one-timers are why you want to put him back in.
14:46Because those were tremendous saves.
14:49Well, he plays tomorrow, right?
14:53How could he not?
14:54Probably.
14:55I don't know.
14:56You know how he could not?
14:57The morning show was talking about this.
15:00Brian Mazeroski from NewsRadio 930 pointed out to the guys this morning,
15:06I heard Jeremy talking about this at one point,
15:09that each of the wins so far for the Sabres in the playoffs
15:14have come with the goalie having more than one day off in between.
15:19Lion wins game one, day off, game two, no, excuse me,
15:26Luganen wins game one, sorry.
15:27Back to Boston.
15:29Luganen wins game one, game two is a day late,
15:32like there's a day in between, game two, he gets pulled.
15:35They lose.
15:36That's two days.
15:37Two days, Lion plays.
15:40Two days off after that.
15:41No.
15:42One.
15:44Friday, Sunday.
15:46No, it's Thursday.
15:48Then that's one.
15:49Okay, Thursday, Sunday.
15:51So Tuesday, he goes in and plays in the third period in game two,
15:53but he didn't start, he didn't play the whole game.
15:55Right, okay.
15:56So there's only a day off there, but that's a little blip there,
16:00but he played 14 minutes.
16:02You're right, you're right.
16:02So Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday.
16:07They lost.
16:08Right?
16:09Only one day, they lost.
16:11Then Friday.
16:12And then Friday, two days off, he wins.
16:14Time off again, game one against Montreal, they win.
16:17One day off.
16:19He loses.
16:20Lukanen eventually goes in.
16:22It's interesting.
16:23Are we doing that?
16:24Are we going by that?
16:24I don't know.
16:25I'm just saying it's not a very big sample size.
16:27It's, you know, it's ten games that we've got to work with.
16:30But in those ten games, every time they've won, the goalie had extra rest.
16:35That's right.
16:36So you don't have any extra days the rest of the series.
16:39You haven't had them this whole series.
16:41I thought Lyon was great in game five against Boston, but they lost two to one.
16:46Right.
16:47In overtime.
16:47So I don't know.
16:48They were talking about that this morning, and that gave me some pause.
16:51Like, is this an opportunity to someone in a meeting today amongst the coaches, make that point, and do they
17:00sit there and ponder, like, all right, you know, maybe we should just go back to alternating?
17:03Do they, in the meeting, the said meeting, mention that they heard it from Brian?
17:09I don't know.
17:11You know, guys, just like, I'm hearing about it right now?
17:13Right.
17:13I wonder.
17:14But, again, it's such a, you know, again, it's only ten games.
17:17They should.
17:18But I'm intrigued by that.
17:23I think I want to give it, like, a ten percent chance.
17:26Listen, I mean, that's interesting.
17:29It's got to be pretty rare for a team to get to this point with two goalies.
17:35I mean, what?
17:37They've played ten games.
17:40Right.
17:40Lucanen has started three.
17:42Lyon has started seven in the middle.
17:46It's got to be pretty rare to get here using two goalies without ever pulling one in a game.
17:53Like, they haven't.
17:54Well, they did pull Lucanen in game two.
17:57That's right.
17:58Okay.
17:58With the Boston series.
17:59Okay.
17:59Never mind.
18:00I'm new here.
18:01That's right.
18:01It happened once.
18:02Yeah.
18:03But I was thinking about it.
18:04We were talking about it yesterday.
18:05Like, it didn't happen in games two or three of this series when it could have.
18:09Right.
18:10But the game stayed close enough.
18:12That's right.
18:12And that game got to 4-0 in game two against Boston, and they did it.
18:16That's right.
18:16Right.
18:17I don't feel like I watched last night's game.
18:19I tried to watch it while doing ADP chasing.
18:24And as usual in my life, I'm late.
18:27Like, I'm a minute and a half behind the play.
18:30And I've got Sanderson last night telling me, Montreal scores 2-1.
18:35The Thompson goal, oh, Shope, 2-2.
18:37Like, I just, as soon as he reacted both times, I'm just over here looking at my phone, and
18:43it's like two minutes later when I get it.
18:46So, I don't think I was really that, I mean, maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I was really
18:51like all in until the start of the third.
18:55And then, I mean, I was in love.
18:56Yeah.
18:57So, you maybe didn't realize how exhausting the review in the first period might have been.
19:03No.
19:03In fact, it took almost 10 minutes of real-life time for them to figure out that that was
19:07not going to be a goal.
19:08I saw all of that, and I had thoughts about it.
19:11I just didn't hear any of it.
19:13So, I don't know what ESPN was saying about it, but I thought, you know, in my way, it
19:18was all reasonable that the goal, the puck was in.
19:22So, you review that, and the puck was ruled in.
19:24Their video clearly showed that the puck was in.
19:28None of the people who were talking about it seemed to recognize that.
19:33No, that's weird.
19:35To Ferraro, McDonough, here comes Dave Jackson, the rules expert, and they're all talking
19:41about it like, well, we can't really see it.
19:44So, they were surprised?
19:45Yeah.
19:45And Owen and I are like, is this insane?
19:48That's bad.
19:48Because that puck, you know, they showed a shot from the front that showed the puck on
19:53edge in the guy's glove.
19:56Yeah.
19:56You could plainly see it, and then you look at the shot from inside the net, and that's
20:00clearly over the line.
20:01You can see the puck in there, and we're like, it's like six inches over the line.
20:06What are we doing here?
20:07Well, maybe I should be glad that I didn't hear it.
20:08Yeah, it was really frustrating.
20:10But then, Montreal reviewing for interference seemed reasonable also.
20:13Yes.
20:14And that's another call where, who knows, like, you could get it or not get it.
20:17Flip a coin.
20:18Yep.
20:18So, time well spent, right?
20:21We love replays in sports.
20:22Love it.
20:23One of the billions of examples where it all just meant nothing.
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