Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 1 day ago
Transcript
00:00so anyway you're you're making your way back paul how um i don't know how improbable a win
00:06was that considering how i thought they were coming undone in the first two periods with
00:12all the penalties and it was the kingpin guys taking the penalties i was starting to really
00:16get worried about them for the first time since like i don't know the new year uh and they played
00:23a great third period i would agree with you for the first period the second i thought they were
00:28okay i thought they were starting to get out of it a little bit lucanen looked really good lucanen
00:34said he was really feeling it by the second period you know because toronto's or toronto
00:41montreal scored that power play goal right at the end of the first and now the fans are buzzing but
00:47in retrospect looking back it was probably the best time for the sabers to give that up because it
00:52shut the crowd up because intermission game instead of instead of the crowd just going for like ever
00:57and ever and ever this is the old this is the old you don't want to give up that last
01:01minute goal
01:02but you're you're saying maybe in this case it was a beneficial if you're going to give one up give
01:05it
01:06up then yeah if you're going to give up the power play goal do it then yeah and then get
01:10let's get
01:10everybody calm down again and um you know they were they were fine and they got a break i mean
01:16they're on their own power play and thompson rips the puck in off the stanchion and you know i'm sure
01:23dobich thought he was going to rim it around the boards and he's not really looking and the puck
01:27comes right at him off the stanchion like right on the goal line from from the boards all the way
01:33in
01:33and it hits him either in the skate or the pad and goes in so you get a break there
01:37and you know it's
01:38nice to get a break just like boston got a break on the geeky goal uh from center ice so
01:44you get a
01:44break there it's also a power play goal for you it gets you going now you're no longer behind anymore
01:50and now all right let's rev it up and let's get rolling but honestly guys i think the biggest part
01:56of that game the changing part of that game they had to kill a penalty for two minutes and 31
02:03seconds
02:03to start if if montreal scores there i think it's going to be a a really hard sell yeah because
02:13that
02:14place they would have blown the roof off it and they probably never would have stopped but buffalo
02:20killing it killed the crowd it was the first time i could hear myself think in that building in two
02:24in two games they did it pretty neatly they did it pretty neatly did they're i mean loken and had
02:31to
02:31make some saves but they weren't the bell ringers that he made on caulfield earlier in the game when
02:35he came flying across on the power play at twice on one timers and and stopped a 51 goal score
02:42um and i think that's what took it out of the crowd it wasn't like oh we're close no we
02:47really
02:47aren't on this buffalo did a good job there and that's when all right you got the crowd out of
02:52it
02:52finally you know and i don't think the crowd was intimidating them as much as they did in the first
02:57game there but still you don't want them buzzing the way they they go so uh they get going and
03:04they
03:04get going they and by that time i was thinking this is the saber team i'm used to seeing they
03:10feel
03:10fine right now they got energized off that penalty kill they're thinking they're going to score and win
03:15this game and that's exactly what happened then they got another power play on a double minor
03:20and it was just fun to watch benson he's in front of the net just a a push which was
03:30enough to put
03:31the defenseman off balance which gave him a chance to back off that defenseman immediately opening the
03:37passing lane for doan doan gets it there and what a gorgeous move i mean just a skill move there
03:43to put
03:44it on the back end and under the crossbar wow to to be able to get that goal and here
03:48we are again
03:49talking about benson and and new hook you know the guys that uh are the guys maybe you weren't expecting
03:56to be running up the points in the playoffs but they're both prominent in this game
04:01and and now you've got your what turns out to be your game winning goal on his 21st birthday
04:08and they shut it down like they have so many times before there were shots but they they were from
04:15the
04:15outside i don't think i don't think lucan had to make a great save for the rest of the period
04:19he was
04:20making pedestrian saves from the outside it's like you want to shoot from out there go and the shots
04:25were 12-5 but i don't think anything i think there was one really good scoring chance in there and
04:31that
04:31was it they they did what the buffalo sabers do with a one goal lead and even lindy ruff said
04:36he
04:37he recognized his team again you know and and uh so it was it was you know a really good
04:44road win for
04:45them and like we talked about yesterday i think it was the most important game of the season i think
04:50they had to win that game and they did you know at the risk of asking a bad question or
04:56one that's
04:56just been answered was there anything intentional about the thompson goal from what he did there
05:02like so no no i said to him like have you ever scored a goal like that good that you
05:06asked remember
05:07the one he scored what was it the broken stick or what i'm trying to think of he scored a
05:12goofy
05:14um i can't think of what he's not he's not trying to hit a target there it was yeah it
05:18was in chicago
05:20and it somehow hit the backboard i don't even remember how it all happened right okay but it was it
05:26was similar to that but it wasn't exactly like that i'm gonna be honest with you i've never seen
05:31a puck do that hit the corner yeah i wasn't sure if it was the boards of the stanchion but
05:36it was
05:36the stanchion and come right across the goal line from the corner all the way to the net and dovish
05:42wasn't expecting that he probably never seen that either i guess i thought there was some there's
05:46some reason so there might have been right to ask there might have been some reason why he was
05:49trying to hit a certain spot corner they talked about it on the on the telecast that that you know
05:54it's the zamboni doors the stanchions are thicker there they broke this down i saw on sports net too
05:59so that's i think it's a good question to ask him if if they you know on shoot-ins said
06:06like target
06:06those doors or that you know that that you know but if he says no i was just throwing it
06:11in and he
06:12got lucky i think trying to rim it around yeah right exactly because he threw it in hard he was
06:17trying
06:17to rim it around um if if that was a specific play that they saw he will obviously even wouldn't
06:24have
06:24been doing it to score he would have been doing it to put to carry him the puck out of
06:27the slot right
06:28right there i mean what you think about dovish on the play is another part of again that they were
06:34talking on on espn about this and again i saw some coverage of it on sports net too um where
06:40like the
06:41he doesn't come out to try to a lot of times a goal if he's trying if he's guessing he's
06:46rimming
06:47this around i think what i heard on sports net was montreal goalies know about the doors and they
06:54won't go try to stop that behind the net because they're worried about it taking a funny bounce there
06:59so they're supposed to stay in the net and as it turns out on this play if he's out behind
07:05the net
07:05that puck sails right through the crease because it wasn't going to go right in the net if he's not
07:11there to bounce off of him he would have been in the clear but he stays in the net because
07:15of
07:16those doors i think is what i heard love it and i'm going to say this in question for him
07:20to see what
07:20you guys think with as hard as thompson put it in would the goalie even come out to stop it
07:26knowing
07:27that it's going to come around fast if it does come right and sometimes they will just punt on that
07:31and it's possible he was going to anyways but what i'm saying is even shootings from the red line
07:36where you've got the time to go out the goalie will often stay in the net if you hit that
07:41corner
07:42you know it's the it's only it's the second period so it's only one you know one period each game
07:46that
07:46they got to worry about it for themselves uh but that the goalie knows to stay in and now so
07:53do our
07:53guys if they didn't right they get back there tell you this and i've learned this in that building
07:58the montreal canadians do have plays off the back wall sure the defensemen intentionally because
08:03those are probably the bounciest boards i've seen in the league and they know it of course it's
08:08their home rink so they actually practice it like ripping it off the back wall knowing maybe the
08:14angle the puck might come out at and then actually do plays that way this is the thompson goal in
08:19game
08:19one although we don't know if dalene did that on purpose but it did they got that bounce it went
08:24to the right of the net off the wall behind right kind of in the middle and bounced right out
08:28to
08:28thompson with a tap in so yeah similar yeah exactly that's a great example
08:33those are plays that montreal scores on from time to time because they run plays like that
08:37well paul overall lukinin i mean you already referenced the saves in the second period on the
08:42one-timers uh by caulfield were like that is the high end that's you know that's the steal you a
08:49game
08:49type athleticism that you can get with a goalie that has the skill set and the size that lukinin has
08:56the second goal the caulfield power play goal right at the end of the first period is the downside
09:02where he's just sort of he's not all buttoned up there he's too too hard going into the post and
09:07he's off balance and his leg lifts up and the puck goes in the net um so that's that's i
09:13missed i
09:13misunderstood your tweet and i was going to ask you because i didn't understand what you meant
09:17i was think i was thinking that's probably a bad goal to give up that he'd want that back
09:22but then i read your tweet and i thought well maybe it's not a bad goal you you explain maybe
09:26why
09:26the pad came up well no i think it's a bad goal he's out of control like he he he
09:32has to slide
09:33so hard to get there that he hits the post you watch it again he his upper body is like
09:41almost
09:41knocks the nut i'm exaggerating now but he slides too hard and his body hits the post and the momentum
09:49of that is what caused his left leg to lift up i understand so technically he was just he was
09:53just
09:53off his platform and it there's like three movements preceding that each one was a little
09:59late so he's just it's it's a criticism i've levied against him really i mean you have to be elite
10:06to
10:06always be under control but there was a situation where it got away from him pretty quickly and it
10:12cost him also timmons is tied up with somebody in front of the net there espn sort of circled him
10:18on the intermission replay of that goal maybe the saver should have wanted him to slide yeah i don't
10:24know but then somebody's open in the slot yeah so i don't know about that so anyway i i thought
10:30he i
10:30thought we got the best in the in the bad the good of the bad with lucan and the good
10:34outweighed the
10:35bad because those two saves in the second were you know fantastic saves yeah i think that that play we
10:41just talked about might have been the only one i would complain about yeah same here he was he was
10:45kicking rebounds into the corner i mean he was directing his rebounds where he wanted them to go
10:50so there weren't too many that were popping in front of him that he had to worry about
10:53um just there were a lot of things to like in the game about him would you expect him to
10:59play tomorrow
11:02i was expecting when they went to levi because la ruff talked about it a couple times how much he
11:07liked the alternating goalies lion yeah i said i'm sorry i don't mean i don't mean we're here for you
11:13that four letters l yeah um lion that that but lion played so well that um he he kind of
11:23i think
11:23felt he had to go with it but i was i remember i was talking about i was thinking maybe
11:27he was going
11:27to go back to the alternating once he replaced lucan in but you know i think he just felt hey
11:33you know well let's keep going with it but he loves the alternating goaltenders so he might and he said
11:41he did not blame any of this on lion but the fact remains the team gave up nine goals with
11:46a goalie
11:47in and two more with the goalie out and it just wasn't working so why not try something different
11:53maybe a shock value for the team he had told lucan in and he was going to get another opportunity
11:58he
11:59didn't know when and it turned out to be this game so he may go to that alternating and put
12:04lion in
12:05for the next one um just just because he likes it so much and uh so it'll be interesting to
12:11see
12:11yeah i normally off of a performance like we saw last night from a goaltender would say of course he's
12:17going to stay in yeah but i wonder if this is now a chance to really like for real like
12:23could he
12:23actually that's it we decided we're going to alternate from here on out i don't care lion gets
12:28a shutout in game five i'm going to lucan in game six wow and he never it would take a
12:32lot for a guy
12:33to do that but i want to leave the door open because i just feel like it's possible deviated
12:37in the regular season remember lion had the shutout on san jose but lucan and took his turn the next
12:42game yeah you know so it didn't matter which goaltender did what he was going to stay with the
12:47alternate until lion had three starts which weren't good and then he went to lucan and it's so
12:54interesting either way like it's you're you you can win i don't want to say you can't win but
12:59if it go if whoever you go with falters then it's such an you're such an easy mark right i
13:06mean you
13:06might just want to go rochambeau at this point and leave it to chance he's been doing great he's been
13:12doing great with what he does i mean i was dead wrong about uh helen use i mean i was
13:18worried about
13:19a 20 year old kid going into that arena he handled it beautifully what a night he had
13:24lindy's lindy's got him out there in the final couple of minutes
13:28and deservingly so it wasn't like he was doing him a favor or anything right i mean it was
13:33deservingly so and i asked helen use about you know when he left buffalo went back to rochester
13:39could he feel right away that from that experience he was a better player and he said absolutely
13:44so that kind of helped him even spring him in better at the american hockey league level and
13:50to come in so i was dead wrong about all about all that i mean that lindy ruff knew what
13:55he was doing
13:56there i really thought about the shem thing and it turned out to be what he what what i was
14:02thinking
14:02that look at he brings a lot of experience to the lineup and he can kill penalties for you i
14:10don't
14:10think he was planning on playing them all that much most or at least half of his time on the
14:14ice
14:15was killing penalties but he can calm you down you know hey guys come relax calm down i think that's
14:23what he was looking for there and there wasn't you know what i didn't think say to myself boy he
14:28looked
14:28bad there you know with the little bit he played i didn't have any problem with him i had one
14:33of those
14:34and i was not calmed down by his press like who's five who's five who invited five so again i
14:43will
14:43give lindy ruff credit for that one because you're not thinking against a speed team to put shen in
14:47but shen can also play the left side i don't believe he did but he can i saw him on
14:52the right yeah yeah
14:53and timmons wound up playing like 21 22 minutes and doline only played like 19 and you you had
15:00mentioned about byram and byram uh also was not on the penalty kill and i think maybe lindy ruff is
15:06seeing a little bit of what you were seeing and i was seeing there that he might be tiring a
15:11little
15:11bit he just he only had a couple of seconds on the penalty kill but i just have to bring
15:17up samuelson
15:17i mean even if he didn't score a goal i think i might have made him the first star of
15:22the team or
15:23game or lucanin was first star samuelson was second even without that goal he was he he played
15:31i think the most minutes on the team yes he played over seven minutes on the penalty kill
15:37he had six block shots he had six body checks he was he had a goal where it was a
15:44great read by him
15:45to get himself you know to read the play to get himself open i couldn't have been more impressed
15:51with samuelson the way he played and they needed them when you're going to kill seven penalties which
15:56isn't ideal uh you you better have somebody ready to go and timmons he had more time than
16:01dalene also because he also was over seven minutes on the penalty kill so uh i just i i can't
16:10say
16:10enough about the job i saw samuelson do in that game i thought he was great and dalene was in
16:15the
16:15box twice which might have flipped that might have been gone that might have gone against him too
16:19power too i mean samuelson played four seconds more than power and power had more shifts what a
16:25great night for him yes it was no he was excellent also and timmons even though a lot you know
16:31he got
16:32over 20 minutes and i don't think he was overwhelmed by it at all i mean his five on five
16:36for the most
16:37part was pretty good uh his penalty killing was stellar and uh you know to get that out of timmons
16:43i think
16:44uh you get a bonus there yeah and there was a moment in this game where they were power and
16:50timmons were on the ice together and power drags the puck way down to the goal mouth and throws it
16:58across the crease and timmons is the guy they're trying to like the that's the sabers even connor
17:03timmons is at eddie ulchuk would have loved it he's at the blue paint trying to get a pass from
17:09coming
17:10across from his d partner which is just you know describe the buffalo sabers in one 10 second clip
17:16like there it is that's them this year he every now and then surprises you i mean when benson scored
17:22the goal in game three who was the guy that sent the cross size pass through the crease for the
17:26tap
17:26and it was timmons yeah you know who actually saw benson over there and put the puck right on his
17:31stick
17:31so where he could tap it in so every now and then he will surprise you offensively and norris showed
17:37up
17:37too i i want to i want to mention it i don't think his name has come up yet well
17:40he played a
17:41made obviously a great pass on on the samuelson goal um and i just thought was way more noticeable
17:47at both ends of the ice last night than he had been saying to joe yurden as he was coming
17:51up the
17:52ice on that i go you know joe he is really skating well and as i was getting the word
17:56tonight out of
17:56my mouth he made the pass and he scored and zucker i you know helen use with zucker and quinn
18:03i thought zucker and quinn both were better um especially zucker i mean he made some good plays
18:09to helen use for one timers that gosh yeah unfortunately he couldn't capitalize on but
18:14it's just another one reason why zucker's on a dry spell because even when he makes good plays they
18:19don't wind up in the net and uh you know he's just kind of snake bitten right now but those
18:24were good
18:25plays um not having the tv i thought when montreal was challenging the goal they were challenging
18:34quinn because on his backhand his stick hit the glove the glove was not in the net his stick put
18:41it in the net which is illegal i think had they challenged that they would have won it either
18:45the helen use play i'm looking at and going hmm yeah that's a that's a coin flip i have no
18:50idea
18:51yeah i don't think i looked at it slow motion i'm not sure he got pushed in there
18:57but i don't i don't know if he impeded the goalie either it's it's really it's whatever you want it
19:03to be right if our montreal i would have challenged uh quinn's stick putting the glove in the net i
19:08think
19:08you win that in in two seconds and by the way this will you guys will love this brian coziel
19:13timed it
19:14that delay was nine minutes i was just about to ask that how long was that he timed it nine
19:19minutes
19:20way to suck the life out of a playoff game exactly and give montreal an opportunity to just completely
19:25reset the sabers were the sabers opened the game like nine or ten to one on shots like they were
19:31flying going into that first commercial timeout and now we got to sit for 10 minutes like it was
19:36like it was like montreal got an intermission i guess the game got its life back how does the game
19:41change if buffalo if they don't win that challenge it's two nothing and are going on the power play and
19:47the crowd is out of it but now the the challenge going their way brings the crowd back into it
19:51and
19:51like here comes montreal now i don't want to yeah you know think any of that necessarily as a
19:56conspiracy i did wonder about that however when lucanin was getting his mask worked on
20:00good time for a break that did take quite a while i i wondered how long just did you notice
20:06there was one of the equipment guys working on the mask there's another guy standing in the way
20:11but he's got a second mask he does but he's not showing it off he's he's holding it like at
20:17his
20:17hip kind of like i don't want the ref to know that we have a backup mask because we want
20:22to take our
20:23time fixing this mask and we can block three was right next to lucanin i was the other i was
20:28like
20:29behind the bench i could see uh them trying to fix the mask i could see the referee i did
20:35not see the
20:35second mask and i was wondering where it was there was because i'm thinking by now there should be a
20:40second match because he got one i know he has they definitely was there and i think the the whoever
20:45was holding it was trying to keep it out of sight for as long as possible because i thought there
20:50might be a moment where the official is just going to say get another mask no doubt sir no doubt
20:54the
20:55sabers equipment people who are i'm sure highly competent were doing their best there but it did
21:00remind me of me trying to fix anything at home which is all right hand that to me and then
21:07i sort of
21:07fiddle with it for like five to ten minutes and then i give it back i don't know i think
21:11probably
21:11throw it out yeah it's gonna work friedman tweeted today that he thinks diving in this series is going
21:16to be addressed well yeah let's lindy lindy is setting the table for that i've not heard san louis
21:22on it uh but lindy last night and again today um has made the point like you know they're gonna
21:29call
21:30that stuff i try to tell the team but you know they're gonna go down easy make it look like
21:34the you
21:34know the biggest thing in the world or whatever like i feel like he's just fishing for one
21:38embellishing call and he did say today too that everybody does it right he goes because at this
21:43time of year they're all trying to get power play so he said everybody does it and our guys have
21:48to
21:48realize it right very good paul enjoy the rest of your uh travels today i will time to get the
21:55rest
21:55of the way home yeah all right not uh you know necessarily such an easy section of that of this
22:01drive at least we know our equipment works in the parking lot in the middle of ontario that's cool
22:05you sound great we miss the slither but i mean clear as clear as a bell should stay there stay
22:11there to cover the games paul just this parking lot here's paul hamilton from burlington in advance
22:15of game six the go train station right thanks paul safe travels take care guys there's paul hamilton
22:20in on the western
22:20in on the western
Comments

Recommended