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00:00Well, let's get through this.
00:02We can do it.
00:03I am super excited and a little tense for the game.
00:10I will do my best to keep that in check.
00:13Or not.
00:13I don't know.
00:14Is that bad?
00:15Yeah, let it fly, man.
00:16Show excitement.
00:17The schedule stuff, too.
00:18That's my baby.
00:19Are you more wound about the game because you're going to the game?
00:24Yes.
00:25Yeah.
00:25Because, I don't want to sound like I'm 85 years old, but yeah, I mean, there's...
00:29Yeah, sure.
00:30You just did it.
00:31I just did it last Friday.
00:33Yeah, yeah.
00:34And I was, yeah, got to get down there, all of it.
00:38Right.
00:38All of it.
00:39All of it.
00:40And you've been to the arena, you know, what, 50 million times?
00:45But for some reason, going from here to there, the tension of the game makes that seem harder than it
00:57really is.
00:58It was a nothing burger for me last week.
01:01I mean, I guess I was so, like, comfortably down there in, like, so much time, it was ridiculous.
01:08That was game two?
01:09That was game two.
01:09Yeah.
01:10Yeah.
01:10So, but I know a lot of the day, I was just like, oh, what route do I want to
01:16take?
01:16I don't want to just settle for getting in the through, the 190 traffic.
01:20I don't want to bite into that.
01:21I got to come through the...
01:24And then I ended up just hitching a ride with my kid, and we just drove down Main Street, and
01:27he parked it, and we walked in.
01:28And I was, you know, I was at the arena by quarter after six.
01:32I'm feeling the train.
01:33Yeah.
01:34Right.
01:34Like I did for the game we went to.
01:37That's always a solid move.
01:39It sounds like Lukaden, not surprising.
01:43No.
01:43Lyon would have been really surprising.
01:45Yes.
01:45I think, I would say.
01:46Yes.
01:46Not maybe shocking, but almost.
01:48I liked yesterday.
01:49I felt like at this time yesterday, I wanted to open the door to the rotation returning, and we talked
01:56about the rest that the goalies have had when they've won so far, and how they haven't won when they've
02:02played on, you know, only the one day in between and whatever.
02:05But by the end of the show yesterday, I was like, yeah, it's going to be Lukaden.
02:11It's just like, I appreciated getting the conversation, and it was worth a conversation, but by the time we got
02:19done with it, or at least for me anyway, I was like mentally done with the question by like 5
02:24.30, 6.00.
02:24I'm like, yeah, it's going to be Lukaden.
02:26What are we doing here?
02:27And so, no surprise in the, you know, in the morning skate anyway.
02:33We also talked a lot yesterday, and we were all doing this, about Benson's series and Doan and the heroes
02:41on the ice these two guys have become, and they're not the only ones.
02:44And, you know, Thompson, we spent 10 or 15 minutes on Thompson at one point late yesterday.
02:50You know, is he right is one thing.
02:55And I was thinking about that actually today, too.
02:58And Darlene as well, especially Darlene.
03:00I mean, so the Bruins lose, and you get Zdorov had a torn MCL.
03:06Like, you get the injury update just when you don't need it anymore, really, when the season's over.
03:12Right.
03:12You want to know what everybody's got, but they don't tell you.
03:15They tell you almost nothing.
03:17And, you know, even Thompson, in his case, just took offense to the question, it seemed, right, last week.
03:23So, Boston loses, okay, here's what everybody had.
03:27Philadelphia loses, and there's like a list.
03:31One guy had internal bleeding, tippet, you know, and he didn't play.
03:35He didn't even play in the series, right, yeah.
03:37But you find out when it's over, actually.
03:40And, you know, Paul asks Thompson last week, are you playing with an injury, and Thompson bristles.
03:47And I was thinking, like, how could they not be?
03:51How could anybody not be at this point?
03:54I mean, they will tell you casually, and this is like football, too, of course.
04:00They'll tell you casually.
04:01Like, nobody's 100% when you get late in the season.
04:03Think of the year, the season Thompson has had, and Darlene.
04:09I mean, of course, with Darlene, you have the personal trauma that led to his leaving the team for a
04:15period of time.
04:15Both guys didn't have a break at the Olympics.
04:17They both participated in the Olympics.
04:19And that was pretty high level, the Olympics, I thought.
04:23I mean, overtime games.
04:25Yes.
04:26Just like, and, you know, it's in Europe, right?
04:29You're just, there's no break.
04:32And what is it now?
04:33I mean, this is game five.
04:34The first round was six more.
04:36This is game 93 of the NHL season.
04:39And apart from that little section early where Darlene left, like, they're both playing them all.
04:46And they're both carrying the weight of the team on their shoulders, for the most part, you know?
04:51You know what I mean by that?
04:53Yep.
04:53So, I don't know if they're injured, and I don't want to assume that they are or aren't, but it's
04:58just an amazing amount.
05:02It's an amazing volume.
05:03So, those two, all of it, but the guys who went to Italy, especially, and, I mean, you have the
05:10pressure that already exists.
05:13You get into the playoffs, first time for both guys.
05:16You've got to, I think this is usually a thing, but not for everybody.
05:22I think with Buffalo, there is an added pressure to do a thing that Sabres or Bills have never done,
05:29you know?
05:29Like, that's always a part of the discussion is, like, can this actually happen?
05:35Where you wouldn't ask that question in Colorado, you know?
05:39Like, why wouldn't it be possible?
05:41Not because they're that good, just because they're a team that's been to the Cubs.
05:44You've seen it happen.
05:45Tampa.
05:46You know, if you've never seen it happen, it's harder to imagine it happening.
05:50And if you're the one bearing the weight of that, like, there's going to be, yeah, it's a different kind
05:55of pressure.
05:56That I think one of my favorite things about them from very early on here, I guess it was maybe
06:02January when Tuck first said it,
06:05there was never a concern to me that this team, I mean, anybody can run out of gas.
06:10You do not get to choose when your tank goes empty, usually.
06:14I mean, you can do everything you can to try to preserve it and squeeze out every mile you can
06:20out of what you have.
06:21But you hit E, you hit E.
06:25It's hard to really stave it off.
06:27There should be a meter so that you can know.
06:29But I never worried that this team would be in a mindset of, like, well, we already did enough.
06:38Because when Tuck said what he said in January about we're not just trying to get in, we're here to
06:43win the Cup.
06:43Like, I love that about him saying it and about the group, what it represented, because it totally, to me,
06:52made sense to look at the conference that way.
06:54I mean, you can omit Colorado for this if you want.
06:58I doubt Tuck was, excluding anyone.
07:00But still, you look at the East, like, you have every chance to come out of there.
07:04And we're seeing it play out.
07:05I mean, they're two wins away from getting to the final of the conference, being a Final Four team.
07:11And to set the goal like that for everyone internally, I just, I think a team that has been out
07:22of it for so long could have very easily, mentally, because of injury, fatigue, whatever it is.
07:30I mean, it's hard to get up to 11 every time you want to go play.
07:34And you certainly want to reach that level in the playoffs.
07:36I think internally it would have been very easy for guys to just go, you know, this is good enough.
07:44And I don't for a second sense that with this team.
07:48Well, it's interesting because I think, as we've talked about a lot in this playoff, it's a month, right?
07:54It's almost a month.
07:56I don't know if it seems like more than that or what.
07:58But today's the 14th of May, and they started maybe on the 17th of April or give or take.
08:03Around there, yeah.
08:04The season ended on, I flew out of here on the 16th.
08:08That was the last day of the regular season.
08:10So we're around a month.
08:12Yeah.
08:14You know, the pressure point is, I always say, like, I just don't want to make assumptions,
08:20especially on the negative side, that pro athletes can't take it.
08:25I love that we have Hellenius from Game 4 who, I mean, what's your knee-jerk likely to be?
08:31That he's young and scared.
08:33But it doesn't have to be like that.
08:36And you saw in his case that it wasn't at all.
08:38Young, yes.
08:40But they also, as right as you might be from that Tuck comment,
08:46okay, goals are good and the Cup should be every good team's goal.
08:51You have no reason to rule out Colorado.
08:52You have no reason to rule out anybody.
08:54You might have wanted to do that with Tampa at one point, but look what happened.
08:59So I think, you know, you can have big goals like that,
09:03but guys are also going to tell you that they have to stay present,
09:08that they have to play the next game or the next shift, right?
09:10That's also the narrative.
09:12And I think that that is, for me, I think that would be more helpful.
09:18Even as a fan, like the idea of the Stanley Cup happening, you know,
09:23geez, it's intimidating.
09:25But one game, who knows?
09:28Like, I don't know, is that making sense?
09:30Just, I think it's good that they saw themselves as a team worthy of that.
09:35And I think that is really what Tuck was revealing.
09:38Right.
09:38But also, like, well, you know, we're not in yet.
09:41When was that even?
09:42January?
09:42That was January.
09:43I'm pretty sure it was, yeah.
09:44I mean, it was after the 10-game win streak, maybe by a month or so.
09:48I don't remember the exact date.
09:50I just know it was, you know, it was early on in the whole thing.
09:54Like, it was before we were thinking, they're going to win the division,
09:57I think, is how I remember it.
10:01But, so, yeah, I mean, I only point that out just because I think, you know,
10:07there's, there will be, like, I think there is every reason to think that
10:13there's injury slash fatigue starting to creep in.
10:16I talked about Byram a little bit yesterday.
10:19And maybe, maybe a couple of days off, we'll do them good here.
10:24Or the day off yesterday, whatever, not even being on the ice.
10:29But I think, like, however it goes from here, I think there's still some segment
10:36of this fan base that I think will go, oh, well, they just, you know,
10:40they got to ease into it.
10:41You know, they just broke a playoff drought.
10:44You shouldn't expect them to go win the cup right away.
10:46And I appreciate about them that they recognized this could be as good a chance
10:51as we ever have.
10:52That's right.
10:52So, let's go.
10:54That's not even talking, that's not even telling yourself a lie.
10:57Right.
10:58I mean, that's really true.
10:59You just don't know.
10:59Right.
10:59I mean, you just never, you just never know.
11:02I mean, they could have, they could keep this team entirely intact,
11:06find room for, I'm all tangled up now.
11:11It's my fault.
11:13Hellenius.
11:15Hellenius?
11:15I don't even know.
11:16He said it the other day, and it sounds like there's four syllables in there now,
11:19and I, and I, I, I'm not, I'm not really there.
11:22Sounds like he's starting to get it.
11:25Anyway, you know, make room for the new guys, keep talk, whatever.
11:29I've got this super team, and they have a great year.
11:31And then you get to the playoffs, and like, I don't know, a Boston guy hits the net
11:35instead of missing it one night, and you're out.
11:38You know, you just don't know, you know, how super your, your team looks like.
11:42Like, we'll be expecting big things next year, but that doesn't mean they'll get any farther
11:46than they get this year.
11:47So, I, I, I think they're present.
11:50Like, Lindy emphasizes it all the time.
11:53Their focus on the, just the next game.
11:56Not, like, how many we need to win to whatever.
11:59I mean, they've got that little, it's not that little.
12:01They've got that, that display in the room where they're putting the pucks in.
12:05I haven't counted, but I assume there's 16 of those holes for pucks.
12:09Let's hope they counted that right.
12:10That's how many wins you need to win the cup.
12:12So, the big picture is, you know, it's being, it's symbolized by that being in the room.
12:17But, I think that they've done a pretty good job of staying in, like, present and recognizing
12:23at the same time that there is an opportunity still in front of them here.
12:27It's a, they've got a best of three with two games at home staring at them right now.
12:33Well, you talk about the gas tank, that point.
12:36Their last game was the one where that was really put to the test.
12:39Just, would they, I mean, they just got pretty much blitzed in games two and three.
12:44And, now they have to, they're back on the road.
12:47How much gas do you have left?
12:49Do you have enough?
12:50Because, you know, all this is true.
12:52You have all the thoughts.
12:53This game, this shift, this season, holes and pucks and cups and things.
12:58You have all the different thoughts.
13:01That game is one where you're probably thinking, like, we have to win.
13:05This is, this is really it now, after losing two and three.
13:09And, you know, they didn't exactly control the game, but they survived it.
13:15No, they created a ton of adversity for themselves within the game and managed to still overcome it.
13:21Yeah.
13:22Which is why I said it was just kind of, to me, it was somewhat incredible that the game,
13:26like, they won this game?
13:27I, man, it was just setting up, like, all these mistakes are going to end up.
13:32The story is being written here halfway through the game.
13:34You know, there's mistakes.
13:35You can't make all these mistakes.
13:37But, you know, they get the bounce on the Thompson goal and it's a tie game and kill some penalties
13:42and a ton of penalties.
13:44And here we are.
13:46So, yeah, I mean, I think it's, it's such a cool moment to be, to go, this is emblematic
13:56of what the playoffs are, right?
13:58The first time we experienced a deficit in the playoff series, in a playoff series this
14:04year, it's like two to one, oh no, oh no, oh they won, okay, everything's fine.
14:10It's two to two, okay, fine.
14:12Come on home.
14:13Get yourself a lead.
14:15Don't fall behind again.
14:16And then see what happens Saturday.
14:17So, is everything fine?
14:21I think so.
14:22Yeah.
14:23I think so.
14:26I mean, what, what is there to really, you know, you can be still worried about Shen being
14:31in the lineup, I suppose.
14:32I don't think anyone's wringing any hands about Hellenius being, don't worry about it.
14:38I mean, I had it.
14:39Hellenius.
14:39I'm just going to stay with that.
14:40All right, whatever.
14:40I'm going to go back to that.
14:41I'm going to go back to that.
14:44You're not worried about him?
14:46Like, you know, I mean, he lost in, I mean, he had those two great chances in the third
14:51period, right?
14:52And we talked about how Lindy had him out on the ice very late, protecting a one goal
14:56lead.
14:57How about in the first period, by the way, like the goal ends up being disallowed, but let
15:01me introduce myself.
15:02I'm just going to charge through the goal crease here and create this opportunity, which
15:06was, you know, fantastic.
15:10So far from being worried about him, he's a guy you might want to bet on to score in
15:14this game, the way his first game of the playoffs went.
15:18So, you know, and you saw Lucanen stand up to it in Montreal.
15:23So, I mean, I don't know how nervous, you can always be nervous about a goalie.
15:28You know, a lot of guys will give you enough to be nervous about, and he certainly is no
15:33exception, but he locked it down, man.
15:35Like, he was great after giving up that lousy, the Caulfield goal at the end of the first
15:41period.
15:41You know, again, like so many of these things, we'll see what the results are, and then we'll
15:46tell our story.
15:48He could say that Lucanen, not only did he get, you know, rest, right?
15:54I mean, he practiced, and he wasn't just away from the team.
15:58But he didn't start for, what was it, even three weeks to side yesterday.
16:03So, not only is it that, but it could have been good for him mentally to have the struggle
16:09to get pulled.
16:11I mean, that doesn't feel good.
16:12But then you get your chance at redemption and nail it.
16:16And, you know, that's having gone through that.
16:19We don't have to wonder now.
16:21Right.
16:21Where's his head at?
16:22You know, like, maybe it's not a big point, but the fact that that happened to him, I
16:29think I like that he came through that, and what he proved in game four was really, you
16:35know, impressive.
16:37So, tonight, pregame at six with Paul, 803-0550 for your calls.
16:43The skit, Greg Wyshynski, again.
16:44Righto.
16:45At four today.
16:46He hasn't been out in a couple weeks.
16:48Right.
16:48He was due.
16:50Yeah, it was time.
16:51It was time.
16:52So, should we assume everyone knows everything about the lineup?
16:55I don't want to assume everyone listening right now knows.
16:57Maybe you heard bits and pieces.
16:59Timmons was not at the skate this morning, but Lindy Ruff said it was maintenance, and
17:03he should be available tonight.
17:04So, I guess I want to say I'm expecting nothing to change with the lineup.
17:09It sounds to me like he and Shen will be their third pair, and then we'll probably see,
17:14even being at home, maybe even more so, them sort of mixing and matching like they did
17:19in the game.
17:20But, you know, Shen, I think, will kill some penalties, and his five-on-five minutes will
17:25probably be limited again.
17:29And that'll be that.
17:31So, if you were among the many who suddenly was concerned about Connor Timmons not being
17:37in a morning skate, rest assured, he should be fine, according to the coach.
17:43Well, he should play.
17:44He should play.
17:44But he's got something wrong, or else he doesn't take the morning off.
17:48Or just rest, because he's older.
17:50I need that.
17:51Maintenance.
17:51I'm older.
17:52I feel like maintenance is, yeah, I mean, it could, you know, whatever.
17:54He should be available to play.
17:56Yeah.
17:57That's all.
17:58Same lineup.
17:59Same lineup.
18:00Right.
18:00Including the goalie.
18:01So, just wanted to just say that point before we move down.
18:05Minus 122.
18:07Oh, I'm on a minus one and a half.
18:10Dream big.
18:11Plus 200 something.
18:13Players?
18:13Yeah, I gotta do that.
18:15Two goals for Helenus.
18:21Two.
18:22Two.
18:22Yes.
18:24Why not?
18:25That's a big price.
18:2680 to one.
18:27Gotta be a big price.
18:28Like, it's like, okay, I'm just gonna go for it.
18:31He could've had two on Wednesday.
18:34Five minutes apart.
18:35Right.
18:35So, alright, I'm gonna do that.
18:38Couple of Darlene assists.
18:39Yeah, there you go.
18:41Always with the Darlene assists.
18:42Always with the Darlene assists.
18:45I feel like they win and cover one and a half.
18:47He's getting points.
18:49I'll do something.
18:51I'll be at the game with my wife, and she's not a fan of the betting.
18:55So, I don't want to be the guy, like, they're down 4-1, and Doan scores, and I had it.
19:01Yeah!
19:03I told you.
19:05I don't know if I said it on the air.
19:06I told you about the end of game four in my house with my wife and daughter watching the game.
19:10Yes, because you had a last goal, right?
19:12Benson.
19:13Benson, right.
19:13And he did score what turned out to be the last goal of the game.
19:18And, you know, of course I want them to win, and I think I'm getting that across.
19:23But, you know, my daughter sort of called me on it.
19:26She just wanted that money.
19:28Right.
19:29Well, both are good.
19:30It reminded me of the time I was watching during the tank year, I think the second, the Eichel-McDavid
19:37year, a Florida game in Florida in the afternoon while I was building a Lego set with Leo.
19:44It was like, you know, January.
19:46It was after his birthday, so February, and we're in the dining room.
19:50We're working on this, like, 3 billion, you know, 60-page Lego booklet.
19:54Love it.
19:54Construction.
19:55And the game is on in the living room.
19:57You know, I'm just sort of keeping tabs.
19:59And Florida scored, and I sort of, I did something that he noticed.
20:04He said, are you rooting for the Sabres to lose?
20:07And I said, it's kind of complicated, but yeah.
20:10He's like, he just sat there for a second and said, wait until I tell Owen.
20:15He was just like, this is offensive, Dad.
20:19You cannot be doing that.
20:20Owen's going to come down here and give you what for.
20:23I miss the Legos.
20:25Yeah.
20:25A little bit.
20:27They still sell him.
20:28I know.
20:30There was a, with the goalie pulled, maybe it was Tage, where there was a clear, and I must have
20:36said something like, miss.
20:39Gave yourself away.
20:40I gave myself away.
20:41We already were talking about it, because, I mean, the Benson goal was so much fun, and we'd already had
20:46that conversation about the bet.
20:48Yeah.
20:48And like, but that's never going to be the last goal of this game.
20:51There's no way this game ends 3-2, does.
20:55Anyway, on to Game 5.
20:58Again, Paul with us to start the pregame show, as always.
21:01Greg Wyshynski before that.
21:02We'll look for your calls next and talk about what we know of the Bills' schedule as well.
21:07We might know all of them.
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