- 6 months ago
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00:00I feel like I could guess this answer, but just to get us started here, Greg, have you enjoyed this
00:04series?
00:06Yeah, I think, you know, I give the Sabres a lot of credit for kind of like maturing on the
00:14fly, for lack of a better term.
00:16I wrote about this today on ESPN.com, like part of the joy of these playoffs is seeing a bunch
00:21of new teams and young players and inexperienced playoff performers sort of figure it out as they go along.
00:27And, you know, whether it was last round against Boston, that first game in Boston, you know, and the performance
00:33they had there, whether it's, you know, getting the major break on the Tage goal in game four and then
00:39kind of settling down after that.
00:40Like, it's been fun to see the Sabres sort of figure this thing out as they're in it.
00:46And that's made for some really interesting and entertaining hockey.
00:51Yeah, I mean, I think to have them play the game the way it went, Greg, I'll tell you this
00:57way, like we talked to you a bunch of times since they got good.
01:01After the second intermission, during the second intermission of game four was the first time I have ever been really
01:08kind of worried about them.
01:09Really?
01:10Because I thought, like, even though it was 2-2, like the penalties, I just thought the penalties might be
01:16a troubling sign that they are having trouble staying with this team and that maybe they're physically getting tired, emotionally
01:25tired.
01:26I just thought they were breaking.
01:29And then they came out and killed off the rest of a Byram double minor and played pretty much a
01:34perfect third period.
01:35And I was like, okay, it's still in there.
01:39But I was worried that they were at a tipping point there that maybe the tank was going to get
01:45to E on them.
01:46See, I saw that more in the vein of what Tage said after game three about the inability of them
01:53to manage their emotions correctly.
01:55You know, I think when you see a parade in the penalty box like that, it's not always fatigue.
02:00Sometimes it's just, you know, your head checking out for a second.
02:07You know, like lapses in focus and things of that nature.
02:10I mean, when you see a billion high-sticking calls in a game, it's less about fatigue than it is
02:15about just, like, control your stick, right?
02:17So I felt the opposite way.
02:19I thought once they got that fluke goal from Thompson, I could feel a weight being lifted off of them.
02:26Because, I mean, you're thinking to yourself, okay, at some point they're going to make it 3-1.
02:30You're not coming back from that.
02:31Your spirit is crushed.
02:33They get a real break.
02:36And then all of a sudden I think they feel a little bit of wind in their sails for the
02:40first time in a while.
02:42Because obviously, like, they thought they had wind in their sails when they thought it was 2-0 in that
02:47game.
02:47And then obviously it wasn't 2-0.
02:49So, yeah, like I said, it's been fascinating to see how these inexperienced teams kind of ride the roller coaster
02:55a little bit.
02:56Because as a GM told me for the story on the site today, every loss feels like the end of
03:03the world, you know, in the playoffs.
03:04And you have to kind of figure out how to pick your spirits up and get off the mat despite
03:09feeling that way in the playoffs.
03:12This is where I think Lindy Ruff has at least sounded really good.
03:17I'm sure what he's telling us is a lot of what he's telling his players, too, about composure and that.
03:24And, you know, we all know how much experience Ruff has, almost 50 years of it now since he was
03:29drafted here.
03:30So, yeah, I think maybe we've talked about him with you before when he was the Devils coach and, you
03:37know, that happened.
03:38And then he comes back here.
03:40I like his touch here with this team right now.
03:46Yeah, I think he's pushed some good buttons.
03:48I think he obviously has a handle on what to do with the goaltending at the very least.
03:54And, you know, on a team that lacks true playoff experience in a lot of places, I think you rely
04:01on a guy that's, you know, done this for as long as Lindy has to kind of be the sage
04:08in that situation.
04:08So, you know, I think he's done fine.
04:12I enjoyed his screed against the officiating in the situation room on that goalie interference call, which I think the
04:18Sabres got jobbed on.
04:21But he's pushed some decent buttons, I think, during the first two rounds.
04:24Yeah, we're getting, like, reconnected here.
04:27All of this, Greg, after all these years of not being in the playoffs.
04:31And, of course, Ruff was, you know, was their coach the last time they were in, but he was gone
04:35for a long time.
04:36We're sort of getting re-acclimated.
04:38Before Game 4, we got angry Canadian press Lindy.
04:44And this is something that he would do, like, in Toronto, I remember.
04:49You know, as we've been hosting these pregame shows for decades here on the station.
04:53So, we've heard a lot of Lindy Ruff pregame interviews.
04:56In Canada, he was often more abrupt.
04:59Like, he just didn't want to give the big media machine too much to chew on.
05:03And we got that, like, most of this, all through the Boston series.
05:07It's 10 minutes, 12 minutes.
05:09He's just joking with our reporter and everybody.
05:13Before Game 4, it's just, like, four-word answers.
05:16You know, asked about the line of ball.
05:18How do you know he's playing?
05:20And I don't know that that has to be taken as a sign of tension.
05:24I feel like it's just Lindy being Lindy.
05:26Like, choosing this opportunity to not be all that, you know, pleasant.
05:32And then after the game, we get their diving and all the stuff about the goal time.
05:38Like, we're getting peak Lindy.
05:40Playoff Lindy is back in effect is all I'm trying to say here.
05:43Playoff Lindy is back in effect.
05:44And like you said, I mean, whether it's calculated or just, you know, that's what naturally comes out when the
05:50tension is this high, it's what you get from the guy.
05:54And, you know, there's a certain problem.
05:55I think every coach is sort of playing a role depending on what the situation demands.
06:00You know, your righteous indignation over diving, your soft criticism of the officiating, all that stuff is sort of like
06:08grist for the mill in the playoffs.
06:10But Lindy is doing a good job of it.
06:12But with Greg Wyshynski here on WGR Game 5 tonight, pregame at 6, do you have a lean here going
06:19forward in this series?
06:20I mean, it's almost a coin flip on the betting markets, Sabres with home ice anyway.
06:26Yeah, I mean, I picked Buffalo before the series.
06:29I'll stick with it.
06:30I think the way that they finished, as you said, Game 4 was a good sign going forward.
06:40I like them in the series.
06:42I like the depth that they've had.
06:45I think that, you know, having the two options at goal has been beneficial all season and continues to be.
06:53And, you know, Montreal is a pesky team, and they've certainly got some players that can make your life miserable
07:00offensively.
07:01But overall, I've long felt that Buffalo had the better depth in this series.
07:06And, you know, their worst game was due to inexperience.
07:11I really believe that.
07:12Like, Game 3 was totally having to deal with the emotions of playing in that madhouse of an arena and
07:19everything else.
07:20And I think once you get through that, then you can exhale a little bit and know that top to
07:26bottom, you're the better team in the series.
07:28Greg, has there been anything through four games that you would say has surprised you about how it's gone?
07:35Well, not necessarily.
07:38You know, again, like, they're getting contributions from the players that you'd expect.
07:44In fact, I would say probably the amount of penalties is a little bit surprising.
07:50Because as Lindy mentioned, arguably their best game of the playoffs was Game 6 against Boston.
07:57And that was a game in which they had one minor penalty.
07:59And you'd figure that'd be proof of concept that when you stay out of the penalty box, good things can
08:05happen.
08:05And yet they didn't seem to learn that lesson.
08:07Now, again, it could be the environment, it could be mentality, it could be exhaustion, it could be a lot
08:11of reasons why there's been so many minor penalties in these last two games.
08:16But, you know, once you've established that if you can keep your nose clean, that you can play an outstanding
08:22game of hockey and close out a series,
08:24you'd figure they would try to stay out of the box a little bit more often.
08:28Over under one half diving minor tonight.
08:31I'm on the over.
08:32I think it's coming.
08:33Even if it's not on Montreal.
08:35Right.
08:35I think we get one.
08:39Yeah, I feel like he's called a shot on that one, right?
08:43Like, we're going to get something tonight, a little embellishment of some sort, just so the refs will let them
08:50know that they're listening.
08:51I saw how Emily Kaplan of ESPN, after maybe Game 3 in Montreal, held up that atmosphere there as just,
09:00like, on its own tier.
09:01Words to that effect, just how special it was.
09:03I think, you know, here, there's obviously tons of energy.
09:08You saw that in the Boston series, really, all down the stretch, those Tampa games.
09:12And we know what Buffalo can look like when it's hot like this.
09:17The dynamic with the other team's fans, though, with the Montreal fans in this case, is so interesting.
09:21You know, the analysis runs very deep in some parts about this, Greg.
09:27Like, oh, well, what day of the week is it?
09:29Maybe a Friday night we're more at risk of an infiltration versus a Monday, like Game 7 would be on
09:35Monday.
09:35And then the weather and different things.
09:38So, I don't know.
09:39Like, it's definitely a topic that we talk about to get through the day when the Sabres are getting ready
09:45to host Montreal.
09:46Yeah.
09:47Well, first of all, shout out to my friend Emily because she did create one of the best memes of
09:53the playoffs where she's interviewing Taige Thompson after Game 4 and, like, comes up to his knee on camera.
10:00And that got spread around in a few – they even mentioned it on ESPN's postgame show, the picture.
10:06It's really funny.
10:09Listen, I have a very specific opinion on the infiltration of fans because I grew up a Devils fan.
10:19And whenever the Devils would play the Rangers, it was at best 50-50.
10:26And you went into that game feeling like you had to do everything you could as a fan to defend
10:32your house against these interlopers.
10:37And so, growing up that way, I never had a problem when teams would bring a bunch of their fans
10:43into the building.
10:43I know in, like, Washington, they tried to make it so if you were from a Pittsburgh zip code, you
10:48couldn't buy tickets.
10:49Nashville did the same thing.
10:51Carolina.
10:52With Chicago fans back in the day.
10:53Carolina.
10:53Carolina.
10:54I never understood it, man.
10:55Like, I love a house divided.
10:57I love the chaotic energy of having these people in your barn and you feel the need to outshout them
11:05or to make fun of their moms or whatever you're going to do, right, to, like, defend your team's honor.
11:11I think that's part of hockey.
11:13I've always loved that dynamic.
11:14I like that argument.
11:15I'm thinking about soccer.
11:16I don't know if you follow Premier League, Greg, but, like, when you watch a Premier League game, there are
11:22always a pack of fans from the visiting team, but they're all together.
11:25Yeah, there's a section.
11:27There's a visitor's section.
11:28Yeah, right.
11:28I might like that for this.
11:29I might like that instead of the unknown of where am I – who am I getting in my section,
11:34in my row tonight?
11:35Is it all Canadians fans all around me?
11:37I went to a regular season Montreal game here, and it was absolutely that.
11:42I mean, I think it was –
11:44Please, go ahead.
11:45Yeah, I was going to say, in soccer, it's so you know exactly where to throw the Molotov cocktail, I
11:50think, is the soccer thing.
11:53But in hockey, though, like, I will say this about fan infiltration.
11:58There is a pretty – it's not a very good feeling when you go to a game and you realize
12:04the person that you sit next to has given up their tickets.
12:07To the enemy, really.
12:09That's not a great feeling to know that you're going to have to sit next to that person all game.
12:15But otherwise, I do enjoy their presence.
12:20One pair of tickets in the group I've been a part of for many years is right on the glass.
12:25And when – I'm not in the group anymore exactly, but I was talking to one of the guys in
12:31it before the playoffs,
12:32and he's like, I told everybody, just know that the pair of seats to your left are Montreal fans that
12:40own the seats.
12:40Like, that's not even secondary market.
12:43Like, you are going to be sitting next to Montreal fans if you choose those seats.
12:46But, you know, it's also the front row.
12:48So, I mean, I guess I come out ahead, I think, on that.
12:52But, yeah, it's just so interesting this way.
12:55I've wanted to have a conversation with Bulldog about Carolina, and I think this is our chance to have it.
13:02You know, if it's just he and I talking about the Sabres, somebody listening is taking us to think that
13:07they've already won this round,
13:09and we're getting – we're jinxing it, anything like that.
13:12With you, however, I think we can do this.
13:14Taylor Hall, you've written about, like, they've dominated, they've rolled in the playoffs,
13:19and Hall, who was here for five minutes, has been a big part of that, it seems.
13:27Five fantastically wealthy minutes, his memory serves, when he signed that deal.
13:32Yeah, I wrote about him the other day on ESPN.com, and it's really been an interesting resurgence for him.
13:37He was kind of this, like, throw-in in the deal when they made the Nico Ranton trade last year.
13:44Like, they got him from Chicago.
13:45If you remember, he was a healthy scratch in Chicago.
13:49Under their head coach, Luke Richardson, who didn't tell Hall he was going to be a healthy scratch,
13:54and that led to a whole situation there.
13:56So he wanted out of Chicago.
13:58They threw him into this deal with Carolina.
14:01Ranton spends, like, 13 games in Raleigh before he's like, I ain't re-signing here,
14:05and so they trade him to Dallas.
14:06And here's still Taylor Hall.
14:08And so when they traded Ranton to Dallas, they got a guy back named Logan Stankoven,
14:13who's a 22-year-old center with an amazing name.
14:16So Hall and Stankoven are on the same line with this cat, Jackson Blake,
14:21who's the son of former NHL player Jason Blake.
14:24And they're the best line in hockey right now.
14:28Like, they cook.
14:29They're physical, and they score goals, and they create points.
14:32They have the best expected goals percentage in the league right now.
14:35And so now all of a sudden this Carolina team, where it was very one line you have to worry
14:41about,
14:42the Sebastian Ajo line forever, now has two lines you have to worry about,
14:46and maybe even three because this guy Nick Ehlers they got from the Winnipeg Jets,
14:50who's a really good goal scorer, is playing on their checking line with Jordan Saul and Jordan Mardinuk.
14:55So this – what I'm trying to say is that this Carolina team's real good.
14:58Like, they're deep.
14:59They can score.
15:01They're not like the other Hurricanes teams that you might have, like,
15:04watched fall short in the playoffs.
15:06There's a reason why they swept the first two rounds and became the first team to do so
15:11under this current playoff format.
15:12They're real good.
15:15Do you give whoever comes out of this Atlantic series much of a chance,
15:20or do you think Carolina is just going to be too much?
15:22Are they closer to Colorado than they are to, say, either Buffalo or Montreal?
15:28Well, to answer your last point, yes.
15:30They're closer to Colorado than they are to either Montreal or Buffalo just by quality of play,
15:35and I think they were second in the league in points or third in the league in points
15:39behind Colorado this year too.
15:40So I'll say this about Carolina.
15:43I think they've got one Achilles heel, and that is their goaltending, Freddie Anderson.
15:49Now, he has been maybe their MVP.
15:51Like, his numbers are off the charts great.
15:53But we've seen this guy in the past kind of, you know, all of a sudden turn into a pumpkin
15:58in the playoffs and have a bad game or two where, you know, usually he'll get hurt at
16:02some point and not be able to play.
16:04If that's the case, it's not to say they fall apart.
16:06It's to say they become a little bit more vulnerable.
16:09But as long as he's playing as well as he is, I think that they handily beat either of
16:15the teams that come out of this series that we've been talking about and maybe even give
16:20the avalanche a bit of a run in the cup final.
16:23Even with all that rest, I guess we'll decide after the fact if it was good or bad, like
16:27we do for a team when they're off for 10 days or whatever it might end up being.
16:33Well, the thing about it, though, and this is what kind of makes them unique, because
16:38I covered their series against the Flyers, and I asked them that question.
16:41I'm like, can this be a detriment to you guys being on the shelf for like nine or 10 days
16:46between games, and they're like, well, we just were on the shelf for a week between
16:51the first round and the second round, too.
16:53So they feel like they've got the processes in place and the right mindset and know how
16:58to do the things they need to do during this off time.
17:02And frankly, they've got some proof of concept because they went and swept the next team they
17:06played.
17:06So we'll allow them that, that they may have figured something out about this whole like
17:11how to stay sharp thing.
17:12You know, I know obviously Colorado moved on coming back to win last night.
17:17I was really pulling for Minnesota, and that's not a team I've ever really cared about, but
17:21I loved that Garen went all in with the Quinn Hughes move, and I was sort of really wanting
17:28to see that pay off.
17:29And, you know, they managed to get out of the first round for the first time in a while,
17:32but just tough last night to have the 3-0 lead and still even 3-1 and not be able
17:39to
17:40get that thing extended to a sixth game was pretty tough, I think.
17:44Yeah, I guess he'll just have to fall back on being the guy who built the Olympic team
17:49that won the first gold medal since 1980.
17:51He'll have to have a good caveat for Bill Guerin this season.
17:55No, I feel you.
17:56Like, I think fortune should favor the bold, and that team obviously pushed its chips into
18:01the middle of the table and got Quinn Hughes.
18:03Problem being, though, is that they didn't really address the part of the lineup they needed
18:07to address, which was the center position.
18:10You know, Yole Erickson-Eck, who's like their best defensive center, he was out for the series
18:16against Colorado.
18:17That meant Ryan Hartman was their number one center, and it kind of put under sharp relief
18:21the fact that Guerin built this really, really good team without really having any quality
18:27in the middle.
18:28And when you're playing Colorado, who goes like five deep at center, including having
18:34Nathan McKinnon, you're just not going to win a series if you can't match that position.
18:39And so I'm intrigued, to your point about Guerin, I'm intrigued to see what he's got up his
18:45sleeve this summer, because he knows that's the weakness on this roster, and he knows he
18:49needs to address it.
18:50And I can't help but wonder if he spent any quality time with Austin Matthews recently overseas,
18:56where it was just two guys having chats in the Olympic Village.
18:59I don't know.
18:59Maybe he did.
19:00I don't know.
19:00Who's to say?
19:01Wow.
19:01I wonder if that would even be possible.
19:03That would just be heresy.
19:04Game five is TNT tonight.
19:06Game six, ABC, 8 o'clock Saturday night, and then ESPN would have game seven here, 730,
19:13the league has announced on Monday.
19:15So this series will end on either ABC or ESPN.
19:21How are you liking the Top Chef season?
19:22I love it.
19:23I wish there were a little bit more tension between the contestants, at least to this point.
19:28There seems to be almost none.
19:30I mean, they're even like a married couple and two brothers.
19:33But Kristen Kish is so good.
19:36Well, Tom Colicchio decided many, many seasons ago that they were no longer going to be a
19:41traditional Bravo show and no longer have the palpable hatred and tension between contestants.
19:46And that's fine.
19:48I mean, we'll always have the Las Vegas season.
19:50We'll always have Marcel.
19:51We'll always have the people that really made the show more of a Bravo show.
19:54I think the cooking's been awesome.
19:56And I think the difference between Top Chef and other cooking shows that may or may not
20:01be hosted by former Top Chef hosts is that it has a real love of cuisine and also a love
20:08of geography.
20:09There's parts of Top Chef that remind me of classic Anthony Bourdain travel shows that really
20:14give you a sense of place and some of the episodes and some of the competitions they've had in the
20:21Carolinas really give you a sense of place about the culture, about the people that live there,
20:25about the foods that they like and that they make and they honor.
20:29And that's why I watch Top Chef.
20:31I watch it for the fun competitions and the awesome judges and Kristen Kish.
20:34But I also watch it because they know how to really create not only like a food show,
20:39but also a little bit of a travel show, too.
20:41Well put.
20:41I'm loving the season and agree with all that.
20:44All right.
20:44Game five tonight.
20:45Get ready, Bulldog.
20:47I know you will be.
20:48Oh, I am ready.
20:49Yeah, no worries.
20:50Thank you, Greg, as always.
20:52Anytime.
20:55I'm optimistic about this evening, but we'll see.
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