- 3 days ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00you know today's today's a beauty that's right none of these players would have been around in
00:03may here ever crazy no like they come back in september and they i'm sure it's gorgeous then too
00:09but not the bulk of it right how about that emily i mean of course you've followed this story all
00:15season long as we have as i've asked so many we've asked so many different guests that sort of when
00:21hockey has come back to life if you will for us this season with this team how shocked are you
00:27or
00:27a shock too strong what's been sort of your uh perspective on this sabers season my perspective
00:34is every time i want to write them off and say oh this is just like every other sabers here
00:38like
00:38we've seen the wind streaks before we've seen the glimmers of hope like every time they face that
00:42challenge they need it and get through it and i think that's what's different about this group
00:47um they finally figured out that aha moment where i think a lot of it is just the internal belief
00:54where we can't stop we can't keep blaming external factors we can't blame the fact that we're going
00:59through so many coaches and gms like accountability starts with us and i think that's the maturation of
01:04this core um you finally have the young players that they drafted that are shining in these moments
01:09the trade so many of them that kevin adams engineered are panning out and it's all coming
01:14together at the right time and we'll see what happens tonight but no matter what i think it's a
01:18successful season because they've done what you guys have wanted them to do for so long and
01:21that's to make the playoff and then show some resilience yeah i mean and saturday night is
01:26another example of this team sort of being you know totally you know put down three to one the
01:32goalie gives up three on four shots and alex line is out and now lukinen's back in and all they
01:37do is
01:37score the next seven goals which is like just this series has been kind of drunk emily um looking at
01:44the scores like it's three three in the series i feel like the games have all been reasonably competitive
01:49but yet you've got all these crooked scores five one six three eight three like it's it's it's kind
01:55of a weird series i feel like for that i think it's a totally weird series and i don't like
02:00i feel
02:00like more of the games have been a little more lopsided probably like the score suggests so all
02:05we're asking for tonight is for a really elite game one that's really close even in shots like i know
02:11the last time montreal played in game seven like that was such a weird win right winning with only nine
02:15shots none of us want that like we all just want to see really good hockey tonight emily kaplan with
02:20us here on wgr i was watching you talk about the montreal game experience and how it's on it's kind
02:28of maybe its own tier and i certainly wouldn't blame you or anyone for that i mean i've been there
02:32too bulldog has too it's it's incredible how about these two buildings though i want to give us some
02:39credit some respect the the atmosphere in buffalo that we hadn't seen or or lived for many years
02:45uh back in full full full force these days all right there's a little inside baseball and i don't
02:52know if my boss will get mad at me for saying this but like the most i've lived a charmed
02:56life right
02:56like i feel really blessed i got to go to so many big games and events but the one game
03:01i wanted to go
03:02to was game one of the playoffs here at buffalo because i knew how electric it would be and they
03:07signed leah hextall she did a great job but like i wanted that like i wanted to be there and
03:11watching
03:12it at home i could just tell and i haven't had a game in buffalo here in the playoffs so
03:15i'm so
03:16pumped for tonight and i think what makes both of these markets so unique is that it's not just in
03:21the arena right like i'm sure 80 percent of homes or something crazy like that are going to be tuned
03:26in
03:26it's such a beautiful day i know the watch party outside they're expecting thousands more um i think
03:32the streets that all just be alive and so i think that's what makes it so unique and i have
03:36heard
03:36that it is exceptionally loud and also very cold so that means it's good ice inside the arena
03:42we talked to greg waschinski fairly often and he was on with us on thursday about we asked him about
03:48how you know there's plenty of montreal fans in here and i'd expect that to be true tonight too
03:53and just sort of like that dynamic and he said how as a devils fan growing up when the rangers
03:59would
03:59go to new jersey it was very much like that and he said i'm all for it i kind of
04:04was raised on it
04:05from that experience and just that little extra dynamic in the crowd where you have fans of both
04:11teams which i don't really think is that much the case in montreal you can find a couple of blue
04:17jerseys in that crowd but hardly any i will say i whoever they are be proud of yourselves like my
04:23position in montreal like right in the zam tunnel and i saw them speckled there and they were eating it
04:28from the fans and they were proud wearing their sabers here and that must have been such a gratifying
04:33experience being there for game six when the entire city is like ready to celebrate and then
04:37literally as i'm walking back to the hotel there's a garbage can on fire like that's how badly it went
04:40so good on those fans for making it through yeah for sure montreal runs hot garbage cans on fire love
04:48it i i know there was like wasn't there like a um like public officials were admonishing like
04:55cautioning don't bring any pyrotechnics to the watch parties like they were worried about
05:00all the way back into history maurice richard was suspended and fires like literally like buildings
05:08burned uh i think i mean it's back in the 50s but they're they're tense emily they are and i
05:14think
05:14you know we've seen in vancouver right when they lost that stanley cup final to the boston bruins that
05:19was pretty intense too and you know you get it like it's canada and we don't want to paint all
05:24of our
05:24picture for a couple dumb drunk idiots but they definitely care about and they're passionate but i know
05:29the fans here are just as passionate and hopefully they act a little wiser here on a monday night
05:33that's what i'm here for yeah um so what what do you think of the decision or even is there
05:39one
05:39lindy ruff has to make with goaltender tonight he played coy this morning not surprisingly he tries
05:44to do that even when everyone can see which goalie is in which net at morning skates so no surprise
05:49that
05:49he didn't divulge who he intends to start do you think there's a decision there or do you think
05:54it's pretty straightforward and lucanin is obvious i don't think there's a decision i think it's
05:59obviously i'm going to say it because i'm going to say it on behalf of espn ukopeka lucanin um because
06:05he has to you're you're welcome um and look i think the thing is is when they went back to
06:12him
06:12the thought process was well this is what we've done all year long right like we've rotated three guys
06:18we have confidence in any of these guys to go on a run and it didn't work for him the
06:22last time he
06:22is tab to starter but he looked really calm when he got in there in game six i know it
06:26wasn't like
06:27seriously tested but there were a couple really big saves that kept the sabers you know with that
06:32lead and so because of that i think you just got to ride him out and know that alex line
06:36can come
06:37in and release what by the way is your opinion of dobich in the montreal net the sabers had a
06:43look
06:43at cracking him it seemed in game five couldn't quite and then he was strong and then game six
06:48happened so how stable do you think he is i think he's overworked right now i think that this is
06:54a
06:54kid that's never played this much hockey high level right in this many games in a row and they love
06:59that prospect fowler like i think he's their future but he's just not quite ready yet and so you've got
07:04to ride him out because he has been the backbone that's gotten them to this point um i would expect
07:09him to bring his best tonight but i do think that there were some goals that he allowed especially
07:14last game or just like like is this just like a work issue and i know that they thought about
07:18pulling him right earlier in game five um in game six i asked the assistant coach right entering the
07:23third what do you think about pulling him he's like no because we saw enough right they cited this big
07:27save that he made on a breakaway at the end of the second period and like the other thing they
07:30said
07:31is he's our guy so he's their guy with emily kaplan of espn 7 30 tonight game seven so bulldog
07:40and i
07:40i've been here basically our whole lives uh living in western new york uh i'm 54 and bulldog's
07:47amazingly even older than me and that's even possible but it's true and so buffalo sports
07:53history sometimes you know you sort of think of the bills too with this the sabers have one seventh
07:58game win my theory is and i think the players say this when it's brought up like they don't even
08:04necessarily know that stuff or care why would brad park scoring a seventh game overtime goal
08:10against the sabers in 1983 mean anything to rasmus dahlin you know they're writing their own
08:14history do you concur do you feel like when it's a situation like this and it's a certain franchise
08:20might have um that kind of history that the players do they have to work at ignoring it how
08:26does that actually work as you see it you know i think for the guys they just always heard about
08:31it right like i know tage told me like when he first got here he went to a sub bill's
08:35tailgate
08:35and everyone's like you think this is awesome just wait because it's actually a hockey town
08:39and they like heard that and heard that but like they never were able to fully experience it as
08:43they went through this rebuild and so i do think that the guys do a great job of honoring the
08:47past
08:47there's a lot of alumni that live in the area and i know they interact with them and i'm sure
08:51rob
08:52ray is keeping them honest with us because that's what rob ray does um but being able to create your
08:57own chapter that's what these guys want to do and so i think it's about honoring and understanding
09:01there's a tradition but wanting to uphold that tradition and be part of the tradition like
09:05that's probably where their mindset's at so we know the d rough went to the extent to keep the
09:11team in a hotel here locally overnight to try to change up their luck here i guess on home ice
09:18where
09:18they they haven't been as good as on the road what do you make of that mike and i were
09:23talking about
09:23it earlier in our show and i'm curious about your opinion like do you think guy it would vary
09:29obviously every team is going to be different but do you think there's something to guys trying too
09:34hard or being distracted at home um just what do you make of both of these teams being so successful
09:40on the road so far in these playoffs you know something lindy told us after their uh one of
09:46the early games at home is that he felt like the guys were running on trying to put on too
09:49much of
09:49a show for the fans at home like trying to make too many plays be too cute and so when
09:53they got on
09:53the road they wanted to play a simpler game and i think that's got to be part of it right
09:57like i just
09:58think it's not necessarily the pressures that you think like it's not necessarily oh the fans are so loud
10:03or oh the fans like there's so much pressure distraction by you know our friends and family
10:07sometimes it's just like we we want to play our best hockey and then you overthink it and sometimes
10:12the unsexier game and the simpler game which you play on the road is actually more effective
10:18emily we are not getting ahead of ourselves by asking this i think i could speak for bulldog on that
10:22as i'm the one asking it but carolina eight and oh so far are they too good for these teams
10:29or not
10:31we'll find out i really think that this long break is going to be a fascinating case study
10:36um you know i've covered carolina last few playoffs and it's always been the same thing like they're
10:40such a good team they're so predictable but they never get the clutch goalie scoring and their goalie
10:45sometimes just kind of loses it and they've had both so far so i'm just curious to see if they
10:49can
10:49maintain that and if they can they are too good for these teams but i don't know there is something
10:53about coming in hot off their emotional series versus the team that's just been sitting around
10:57um there's something to that how about for us if it's car well it will be if the sabers can
11:04win
11:04tonight that it's carolina again 20 years 20 years that's not their last playoff appearance it might
11:10seem like it it almost is their last season where they won in the postseason that was the next year
11:15but that that 06 hurricanes series still haunts i think a lot of the fans here just as close as
11:22that
11:22was all the injured defensemen and then a bitter loss in game seven this has been a a joy ride
11:28with
11:29the sabers emily and if it gets to carolina next i mean that's just almost too good to be true
11:34yeah i think it'll be great hockey and you know it's two distinct styles i think the sabers are
11:38going to want to play more high flying styles uh carolina like clogs and neutral zone like crazy
11:43it's hard to i can get out here thank you so much i'm right where i left you running back
11:47to the arena
11:47for a hit that i'm late far but i'd love to chat with you guys um so anyway i just
11:51think it's going
11:51to be a fantastic series uh you can get a little glimpse in the life of emily kaplan on days
11:55like
11:55this um you know and i think there's something about the sabers right now where like they really
12:02feel like they're playing with house money like page told me that after the game like in september
12:05no one would have put them there and they take a lot of pride in the fact that like hey
12:08we're winning right now and i think maybe there's that freedom off their chest of like we've exceeded
12:13expectations whereas all the pressure right now is on carolina to show that they have
12:16remained this really elite program emily thanks for fitting us in enjoy the night
12:22oh sorry for making you guys feel rushed you're lovely to talk to sorry jack if you're listening
12:26for ignoring your email for a week but anytime and hopefully we'll get to talk hockey the next
12:31couple weeks too thank you very much good deal yeah we'll hook up in the finals emily kaplan of
12:36bs
12:37bs
Comments