- 23 minutes ago
Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase kick things off on Thursday morning by checking in on the Sabres vibes and discussing the season outlook, and sharing their expectations for the team after a quiet offseason. The guys discuss the biggest questions the team has to answer, pointing out that there are big questions on all three levels, forward, defenseman, and goaltending. They analyze the Sabres approach to the offseason and whether they should be disappointed.
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00:00Lots and lots and lots to get to you as the Sabre season begins tonight.
00:05And vibes are all the way up.
00:11The team's back.
00:13Everyone's hopeful.
00:14Hockey's back.
00:15That's good.
00:15They're supposed to be good.
00:17You know, like, I know they didn't do everything we wanted them to do in the offseason, but
00:22like, I'll worry about that when they're 1-2-1 or something.
00:26When they're 1-2-1, we'll be right in the season off.
00:28Right.
00:30Columbus and Chicago.
00:31Yeah.
00:32Like, you know what I did?
00:33Must win?
00:33You know what I did this morning?
00:34I did not check Twitter to see, like, what I missed last night.
00:37What I did was watch back the Game 1 highlights against Boston and then the Better Days video
00:43that they put on the Jumbotron before that game happened.
00:45That's what I did.
00:46Yeah?
00:47Yeah.
00:47I didn't look up, like, what the latest Connor Hellebuck rumor was.
00:50I watched the Sabres montage to start the season with all the guys and all the highlights.
00:55And, you know, this time we go to the arena, that's Saturday, the montage won't just be
01:02goals in November.
01:03It'll be playoff highlights.
01:05Playoff goals.
01:06Yeah.
01:06Playoff goals.
01:07Yeah.
01:07And that matters.
01:08That helps get the juices flowing.
01:11Yeah.
01:11Vibes are, let me put that up as a, not even a Twitter poll, but a Twitter fill in the
01:15blank.
01:18Because vibes are indisputably better than they've been in a long time to start a season.
01:24I'd say at least 15 years.
01:25Yes.
01:26I mean, you could argue, this is maybe 15 years ago, what's the off season where they
01:31come in with Erhoff and Regeer and they spend a billion dollars and like, okay, we're
01:35going to be good now that, that, that, that start of that season, which I would say start
01:42of the first Eichel season would trump that.
01:44Okay.
01:44I looked that season with Erhoff first coming in there over under was like a hundred points.
01:49Yeah.
01:49Like people thought they were going to be really good.
01:52You're, you're probably right though.
01:53The start of the Eichel year with Kane and O'Reilly against the Ottawa opener.
01:57That's a big one.
01:58They had 10,000 people at prospects scrimmages and stuff like that.
02:01But so here we are, this, the vibes are blank and uh, yeah, good, really good.
02:09But also at the same time, like it was good in that way.
02:15Is that because you're not sure they're actually going to be good?
02:18It's yeah.
02:19It's a little bit like, um, you know, we, you, you use our golf analogies.
02:24You just shot your career low and you've got another round the next day.
02:30Like I feel really good.
02:32I hope I do it again.
02:34I really hope I do.
02:36I'd settle for something close to it, but I could also put 10 balls in the woods and feel
02:43like I want to quit the sport.
02:44That's the nature of golf.
02:46That's probably just inside my head, but they're supposed to be good again.
02:50Okay.
02:51Yeah.
02:52They're over under is of a team that's on the bubble.
02:54A lot of the picks are of a team that's going to be bubble.
02:57That doesn't mean like ninth, 10th.
02:59That means, you know, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th, third, third, fourth in their division.
03:03Excuse me.
03:03John Bouchergross picked them to win the Stanley cup.
03:05Great.
03:06That's great.
03:07Any in-season trades or this roster are going to do it.
03:09EA sports had them losing in seven games to Edmonton.
03:12Right.
03:13There you go.
03:13Look at that.
03:14The simulation has them, them going far.
03:16Yeah.
03:17So.
03:17Yeah.
03:18A video game.
03:18No one has any complaints about.
03:19Yeah.
03:20They, uh, they, uh, they picked the Sabres to make the cup against Devin Levi and the Edmonton
03:24Oilers.
03:24Was Levi in for them in that simulation?
03:27Oh, maybe.
03:27I mean, I don't know.
03:28Their goalie situation is bad.
03:30Um, yeah.
03:31Like their, their odds are the fifth best to win the Atlantic division.
03:37Okay.
03:38Yep.
03:38Their odds to win the Stanley cup.
03:40I saw a couple others.
03:41Like we do this with football and the football performance index.
03:43I saw one, was it, uh, it doesn't matter who that had Columbus's odds to win the cup higher
03:50than the Sabres.
03:51Okay.
03:52I saw yesterday they had the 13th best odds.
03:54They were the only team ahead of them that might've been like, Oh, that's interesting is
04:00Washington, but Washington had like the sixth best odds.
04:03Like they are way up.
04:04And Washington did a lot this off season.
04:05Talk in Cairo.
04:07They went in right away.
04:08Let's win some games right now.
04:10Ovechkin's back for another year.
04:12Um, right.
04:13Yeah.
04:13I mean, they could finish to me anywhere from first to fifth in this division.
04:20Realistically, I guess, should I, should I consider if the goaltending what's 10 balls
04:26in the woods, the 10 balls in the woods is the goalie stink.
04:29And then you could finish probably even worse than fifth.
04:32That's right.
04:33And 10 balls in the woods back of the golf analogy is the goalie stinks.
04:36Then there's, you just don't replace the scoring in the same way.
04:41And other teams have gotten better.
04:42And that's just missing five, six foot putts.
04:44Uh-huh.
04:45No, that's, that happens all the time.
04:47Right.
04:48This, this division, there's a little bit of a, maybe it's fear mongering how every team
04:53in the division tried to get better and did, except for the Sabres Detroit.
04:58Did Detroit get really much better?
05:00I don't think Detroit got better.
05:01No.
05:01And they still have the Lark.
05:02And did Ottawa get, but they're also being picked to finish last by everybody.
05:06Did Ottawa get much better?
05:07No, they lost to Chuck.
05:08Right.
05:09So those two teams put them aside.
05:11The rest of the division, everybody did get better or at least held where they are.
05:16Right.
05:16Did Tampa get better?
05:17Did Tampa probably get better?
05:20Uh, they lost Radish and they signed John Carlson.
05:22So I'd say a push.
05:23All right.
05:23And they're always good.
05:24And they, see what we probably want, or I'll speak for myself.
05:27What I want the Sabres to do is this season get the, and I mean, earn the benefit of the
05:34doubt, like Tampa all last year.
05:36I mean, Tampa is given the benefit of the doubt because they've been good for 10 years
05:41straight.
05:41So every year, just expect them to be good again.
05:43That's how it goes.
05:45And the Sabres had their one year.
05:47So you don't necessarily expect them to be back.
05:50It's possible.
05:51The Sabres had their Washington commanders make the NFC championship season.
05:55And then what?
05:56They're not really much since injury here or there pieces.
06:01Aren't there the same way it's possible.
06:03You had your, I guess it's not possible.
06:05You had your like Patriots made the Superbowl run.
06:07Like we see good teams all the time go from good to, Oh, it, you know, not, not nearly
06:12as good.
06:13And that's who last year, that's Florida.
06:16Florida does it with injuries.
06:17Yeah.
06:18And that's just all, I mean, and that could happen to anybody, right?
06:20That's right.
06:20Five of your top eight players get injured, including your best player, like happened to
06:24Florida.
06:25Like you're probably going to miss the playoffs and the Sabres are positioned with depth.
06:29No one would dispute that.
06:30Right.
06:30They look, they look strong to me.
06:32The forwards could totally pop.
06:35To me, there's a scenario where we're thinking about them as having the best group of forwards
06:40one through nine, maybe not in the league, but in the discussion when you're, if you're,
06:45if you're going all the way to the bottom, like the middle six, they were very well positioned.
06:50It's just, is it going to be enough?
06:52And is goaltending going to come through for them?
06:54Like it did last year.
06:55Yeah.
06:56It's the, the depth of the forwards would absolutely be in that discussion.
06:59I mean, they don't have enough of the high end guys where like, oh, would you take the
07:04Sabres forwards or would you take the Oilers forwards?
07:07They have McDavid, so I might take them.
07:09But yeah, like your third line, your fourth line is going to have, I mean, if you, if they
07:14ever are perfectly healthy, they're going to have two 20 goal scorers on their fourth line.
07:19If like Kulik and Zucker are two thirds of their fourth line.
07:21So we could get there, but they are, I think, built to sustain and to work through a couple
07:29of injuries more than most teams are because of that.
07:33Yeah.
07:33Like, I mean, there's a question on all three fronts forward wise, like, are the kids going
07:38to show up and score?
07:39And I did not love hearing what Lindy said about Helen use the other day, but I don't
07:44know.
07:44I thought he looked good in the preseason.
07:46He looked great in the playoffs.
07:47So what did he say about Helen use?
07:48He kind of said he hasn't liked them in the preseason and training camp without saying
07:52that directly.
07:54He's putting them on the wing, right?
07:55He's on the wing.
07:56Okay.
07:56He's on the wing.
07:58So like, I'm still hopeful about him.
08:00I do think Lindy trusts Osland, you know, supremely.
08:04With his life.
08:04He is their number two center going into tonight.
08:07Like, he's playing with Benson and Quinn.
08:09Like, that's their second line.
08:10Um, so there's a, there's an investment in him too.
08:14Now, like that's going to create an expectation and Kulik will see like anything from him might
08:20feel like a bonus at some point along the way.
08:22So forward, you have one defense.
08:25You have one because you're replacing Byram.
08:27And I like the idea of Zellweger and the idea that he can replace at least three quarters
08:35of what Byram was giving you, if not all of it.
08:37Like, I don't think that's impossible.
08:38That he could just be as good as Byram right away.
08:41And then goalie is the massive one.
08:44So you have a big question on all three.
08:47And do you need all three to be hits for you?
08:51Like, can you, can you, can they make the playoffs if one of those three things doesn't go well?
08:57Their blue line's not as good as it was last year because it's not a big top four anymore.
09:00It is a top three.
09:02Or the kids are, they're inconsistent and I didn't really replace Alex Tuck.
09:07Like, I think I can overcome those two things.
09:10I'm not sure they can overcome if like Lukan and the Lion just regress and they don't have
09:14an above average goalie.
09:16Well, let's go one by one.
09:17Start with the defense, right?
09:18That's their superpower.
09:19That top four.
09:20Right.
09:20If you had to lose one of the four, who would you have picked?
09:24Byram.
09:25Okay.
09:25Okay.
09:26So immediately I'm at, this is maybe talking myself into it, but I think I'll get there.
09:32Was it a top four or is it a top three and someone who is reasonably good to step in
09:37there
09:37as the fourth and now it's back to a superpower?
09:41Because if he's playing with Owen Power, because I got Darlene and Samuelson, like, I feel good
09:46about it.
09:47Why was, why was Byram free to do all the stuff that he did?
09:50Is it because power is so incredibly, like, set your watch to him steady?
09:54So, okay, put somebody else there with him and now I've got my superpower back.
09:59I just swapped out one guy.
10:02So, one by one.
10:03That feels good.
10:04Replacing talk.
10:06Do I have to do it in every single way?
10:07Like, who's the penalty killer?
10:09You know, it's funny, like, because I think we often do this with the three young guys
10:13and I think what you're seeing out of Lindy's lines through training camp, and that includes
10:18what he had yesterday, and what he has said about, like, the penalty kill, which Tuck
10:22was, like, their number one penalty kill winger all through the last couple of years, like,
10:27he played the most minutes with Tage Thompson by far over the last five years.
10:32Like, in all of the years that Tage has been a good player, this guy has been next to him.
10:38And they often operate with partners, right?
10:41Like, two guys are together on a line, the third guy will shuffle around.
10:46And that happened there, right?
10:47Like, Skinner was there with them for a while.
10:50Well, Olofsson was there at times.
10:52Krebs obviously got his crack with them.
10:54Benson at times.
10:55But it was always Tage and Tuck together, for the most part.
10:59And I think that guy now is Doan.
11:01I think they are, what the lines have looked like through camp, what they've done in the
11:05preseason, what Lindy has said about him as a penalty killer, I feel like, who's my new
11:09Tage partner and who's my new, my Tuck replacement on the penalty kill?
11:14I feel like they might see Josh Doan being that guy.
11:16So that just has to work.
11:17And we know Doan's a good player, there's no doubt about that.
11:19Yes.
11:20The question is, will he and Tage have the chemistry that Tage and Tuck did?
11:23Right.
11:23Which, how long will Lindy wait for that?
11:26Right.
11:28Give it a week?
11:29If it's not there right away, how long do you wait for that?
11:31All right.
11:31So Doan is Tuck.
11:33Now I'm not replacing Tuck.
11:35Now I'm replacing Doan.
11:36With the young guys.
11:37And can Consta be that guy that replaces Doan, who gives me 20 to 25 goals on my second slash
11:44third line?
11:45Like, I think it's very possible.
11:47Yeah, me too.
11:48Me too.
11:48So, all right, everybody slots up one, and then we get to the goal.
11:51Where it's Lyon, it's Lukanen, and I just...
11:56Colton chaos, baby.
11:58Colton chaos.
11:59I texted Owen last night, I'm like, is he Jet Greaves?
12:02The Blue Jackets starting goalie who just had a really good year because their paths up
12:06till the NHL are like exactly the same.
12:08Colton chaos and Jet Greaves?
12:09Jet Greaves.
12:10Here's why I thought of that, because I was looking at him last night knowing this game
12:13was coming up.
12:14Jet Greaves, two seasons ago, he played 11 games his first real year in the NHL.
12:19He played 11 games.
12:20Not much.
12:21Yeah.
12:21Had a great year.
12:22Playing 11 games.
12:24Bam!
12:24He started 53.
12:26Undrafted, by the way.
12:27That sounds chaotic to me.
12:28That is chaotic.
12:29I only want to talk about this player if it means embracing complete chaos.
12:33I'm with you.
12:34Yeah, I think, yeah, I liked your text on Greaves last night, Sneaky.
12:38I think it really works in terms of path.
12:41They're pretty similar.
12:42They both played Major Junior in Canada.
12:44I like the, you know, Barry for Jet Greaves a little more than I like, I forget where Ellis
12:49played in the queue, but I think they're very comparable.
12:53They're not big.
12:53No, they're not.
12:54They're both smallish guys, not huge.
12:57They both play with some athletic sort of flair.
13:01So I like it a lot.
13:03That's sort of the, that's what you're hoping is possible for Ellis.
13:06And, you know, I think Greaves is good.
13:09I'd be happy to have Greaves right now.
13:11The one thing I would wonder about is if Lucanen and Lyon aren't as good as last year.
13:15Like Columbus cleared the decks for Greaves to like just take over and be the number one
13:19last year.
13:20Right.
13:21What if Lucanen and Lyon aren't as good as they were last year?
13:25Would they even, I don't know what their commitment level is to Ellis.
13:29Are they going to throw Ellis in there and give him a shot to be like the number one goalie?
13:33Like that seems harder for me to believe.
13:35They, they have just had this commitment to UPL for years now that I don't know.
13:42Is there any outcome where he is not getting half the starts?
13:47Yes.
13:47Even if he's struggling because he struggled in the past.
13:50Maybe they weren't good in those years, but he has struggled in the past and they have
13:53kept rolling them out there and kept rolling them out there.
13:57Not Yarmou.
13:59Yarmou's new.
14:00True.
14:00I think, I mean, he, he had a great year last year.
14:03Good.
14:03All right.
14:04What do you got now?
14:05I don't, I don't expect Yarmou to have the same attachment to UPL that maybe Kevin Adams
14:10did.
14:10I don't think that'll be.
14:11That's probably because he did try to trade him.
14:13Right.
14:14So he did it.
14:15He did it.
14:16And he's ready to do it.
14:18And I think that he's, he didn't draft them.
14:20He didn't sign that contract.
14:22He's got no reason to be committed to him.
14:26Anything more than he had a good year for us last year.
14:28So thank you for that.
14:29Prove it again.
14:30And so that's why I think they might be going into this.
14:33Like, I think this might be a tryout for the goalies.
14:36I think the start of the season might be a tryout for the goalies.
14:39They tried to trade for a big goalie last year.
14:42They couldn't do it.
14:42And now, all right, prove me, proved, proved, proved me why I don't need to make that deal.
14:49And if you don't, I'm going to try and go make that deal again.
14:52I think they might be giving those guys a little bit of like, Hey, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta
14:57win here because the team's good.
14:59We saw that the team is good.
15:00And if you can give us serviceable playback there, we're a great team.
15:04So do that.
15:05Or you're getting swapped.
15:06Part of that always hits me as unserious though.
15:10So you're, you're trying to take your next step forward as a Stanley cup contender.
15:14And we're having tryouts.
15:15Like, it's not, I know what you mean.
15:17It's the situation that they kind of have to be in and they're open to whoever is the
15:21best guy, but tell me your off season didn't go to plan without telling me it's, I, you
15:27know, we're just going to see who's the best.
15:29Right.
15:30Competition breeds, whatever.
15:32Iron sharpens iron, whatever you want to say about it.
15:34I just, I'm, I'm going to be a little ornery about it while also being very, very happy.
15:39That they still haven't fully graduated to looking like a team that thinks they can
15:45win the Stanley cup this year.
15:47And we went to the off season hoping they would look like a team that thought they could win
15:52the Stanley cup this year.
15:53Did you see ESPN's feature about jumping over the boards?
15:57The kids growing up playing hockey and jumping over the board was really super good.
16:01Hamburg Hawks kids.
16:02Yeah.
16:03And they interviewed a bunch of players about how, when you're growing up with the first
16:06time you jump over the boards, you feel like a real player and it's a big season preview
16:10and it's all this stuff.
16:11And at the end it's Liam Neeson's narrating it.
16:15And he says one last leap over the boards and it's the teams that have won the cup.
16:18Right.
16:19And in that moment, I thought, you know, you'd be able to think this all the time, but in
16:22that moment, I thought in a different way, our guys have never had that final leap.
16:26And I want this organization and I want this GM to look like an organization that's going
16:34for that leap.
16:35And this off season didn't look like one of those.
16:38Now it didn't, they don't all have to look like that, but this off season certainly did
16:42not look like one where they say we, we were not satisfied.
16:46We're going to be even better.
16:48Do you think they're happy with that being the end result?
16:51I don't know because there's, you can serve both, right?
16:54You can serve, let's be great and go win the thing while also trying to serve sustainable,
17:00set us up for the longterm.
17:02The problem is you don't want to fall too much in love with the longterm.
17:07Listen, the bills are in a great spot in there right now, and they have been great for a
17:10long time in large part because Brandon Bean has been about the longterm.
17:14Maybe the one criticism is something along the lines of you should have traded a pick
17:18for a player.
17:18You should have done more to try to win it right now.
17:21You can win it right now without doing that, but that's one thing I think people feel about
17:26the bills.
17:26And I feel that right now about the Sabres because the bills have done that a couple
17:30times on smaller level deals.
17:33And for the Sabres, it's, I got Logan Stanley and Luke Shen and Sam Carrick.
17:38Yeah.
17:39Right.
17:39Like where was he tried?
17:41They tried.
17:42That's where I want to defend them, but I don't want to go too far because that's the
17:45bills comparison to like, Oh, I'm in on, have we seen yet that the bills were in on
17:49Joey Porter jr.
17:50No, they called on that.
17:51I saw their in on Tyreek Hill, which is tough to believe.
17:54Wouldn't be surprised if we see today, like, Oh, they called on Joey Porter jr.
17:57Cause they call on everybody and they never actually land the elite player.
18:00The, the Sabres, I Kevin Adams maybe did the same thing.
18:05That's why I don't want to give too much credit for this.
18:06But if Yarmou had his way, what would his lineup have looked like?
18:11And for the playoffs last year, wouldn't have been Logan Stanley.
18:14They would have gotten Colton Pareko.
18:15Right.
18:15So like they tried to do something big that might not have even gone that well for them
18:19this year.
18:20What's the lineup look like tonight?
18:22If he got, he got his way.
18:24Halibux is in that.
18:25Trotrack's in the middle.
18:27Yep.
18:27Byram is on the blue line.
18:28On the blue line.
18:29That's, that's their lineup tonight.
18:31If, if he got what he wanted.
18:33Now, again, you only get so much credit.
18:35You didn't get that done.
18:36You didn't get any of that done.
18:37So you're, but I feel like their pivot was the longterm in the future that their plan
18:43was, we are going to try to win the cup this year.
18:45And then those deals fell apart.
18:47And it's, I guess we'll just do this instead and we'll just see if the young guys are good.
18:51Yeah.
18:51And the, the thing that I think is it, we're so early with the Sabres, whereas with the
18:56bills, it's we're, we're deep into this now where I can, I can be okay with your,
19:02your argument being, I wanted to do all that stuff, but I also know that I'm set up to
19:08be great for the next eight years.
19:10And like you said, you don't want to fall too in love with that idea, but you also don't
19:15want to burn it to try to get something now.
19:18Well, that might be true.
19:20The problem is every team can very easily say we're doing what we're doing for the long
19:27term.
19:28But not Jason Bottrell lived a terrible life here saying that the whole time.
19:32So I don't want to say that doing that is writing your name on the test, but it's pretty
19:37close.
19:38Wouldn't, wouldn't Detroit say they're holding out for the Larkin trade.
19:42And when they do, it's about what makes them better for the longterm.
19:45And if you're Montreal who didn't make a big move, they're saying the same thing.
19:49Well, the only one not saying that is Winnipeg, right?
19:51Because Winnipeg is saying the opposite.
19:52We need to be good right now.
19:54We can't take, but they're only saying that because of business.
19:57And they're afraid other players will leave.
19:59Right.
20:00Yeah.
20:00Right.
20:00They're backed into a corner on this.
20:02Right.
20:02So many other teams are able to say, we're going to be in this, we're not making the big
20:07move because we're in it for the longterm.
20:09Agreed.
20:10But I don't think many teams are actually truly set up for it the way the Sabres are.
20:15They don't have Consta Helen Hughes.
20:18Other teams are not as well positioned as the Sabres are to say that and it be honest and
20:25it be of value.
20:28To me, they have got pieces that allow them to say that.
20:31And for me to take it seriously, unlike Detroit, who's got basically nothing going on aside from
20:38what they've got on the roster right now.
20:40The Sabres are not quite that.
20:43To me, they're like Montreal in that they've got a bunch of guys locked up that are good
20:50now already and a bunch of kids that look like they're going to be great.
20:54Not all those teams that say that have all those assets.
20:57Yeah.
20:57I would agree with that because the Sabres have guys already in the lineup that we know
21:05are good and are locked up.
21:07That, to me, is a little bit different than, you know, it drove me nuts when Bottrell said
21:12it too.
21:12But when he was saying it, they had a couple good players and we were waiting for the rest
21:17of it to fill in and it's like, well, we got Justin, Bailey, Nick Baptiste, and Brendan
21:23Gooley coming to save the day.
21:24These guys are not NHL players and nobody really thinks they're going to be great NHL players.
21:29Bottrell consistently said how important it was to be good in Rochester.
21:31Right.
21:32He had to build a team there first.
21:33But that was just like, your guys don't rank that highly.
21:36In that department.
21:38These guys, I mean, Ocelin clearly does.
21:40They've already paid him.
21:41Yeah.
21:42These guys are supposed to be a level above that.
21:45These three specifically.
21:46I don't know if you want to go further than that with anybody else.
21:49But these are the three.
21:50You got the fourth overall pick, Dax and Rudolph.
21:53Like, there is stuff in there that is of higher value than most teams that talk like that.
21:58And so I want to give them a little more credit than I would ever give Lattrell for saying that.
22:03And that is where, though, I wonder, like, is that Yarmou being honest totally when, like,
22:06we're doing this for the long term or is it a pivot?
22:08Because are we sure that if Dylan Larkin didn't say he would go to Buffalo that he wouldn't
22:13trade Dax and Rudolph tomorrow?
22:15No, I think that's totally possible.
22:17But I think that what I'm saying is I'm okay with them not wanting to overpay with these
22:23assets that have them in that position for something now.
22:26I'm okay with that.
22:288-0-3-0-5-50.
22:30Happy Sabre season.
22:32They play Columbus tonight.
22:34How do you feel about that as the opener now that it's here?
22:36I'm reminded that Columbus was a very good team last year until they absolutely collapsed.
22:42And then the coach, like, ripped into them, right?
22:45Did he do it on TV?
22:47Yes.
22:47He said that none of them have guts and they don't have any...
22:51He cried at the podium, kind of.
22:53It was bad.
22:54Did they win, what, like two of their last 20 games?
22:58Something like that?
22:59They were right there in the playoff mix and they absolutely fell like a stone out of the
23:04sky.
23:05Do you remember the game at the end of the season here?
23:07No.
23:08Late April.
23:09They needed that game.
23:10They needed that game.
23:11The Sabres were in the division race, so they didn't need it as badly.
23:16And the Sabres wrecked them 5-0.
23:18That's the Colton Ellis shutout game.
23:20Doan from center is, like, hunting a guy and, like, steals it and scores immediately.
23:25Yeah.
23:26Like, they scored three goals in, like, five minutes in the third period.
23:29And that blew...
23:31I think maybe they died right there for Columbus.
23:33Like, they lost...
23:34I'm looking now.
23:35They lost all but two of their games from March 26th on.
23:40Yeah.
23:41So...
23:42Tough.
23:43They lost nine of their last 11 to miss the playoffs.
23:47That's pretty...
23:47It's pretty bad.
23:48I hope tonight's vibe from the game is similar to 06-07 after 05-06, where that team couldn't
23:57wait to get back on the ice and couldn't wait to prove to everyone they were legit.
24:02Do you remember when they opened that year, though?
24:04They were...
24:05Where?
24:05They opened in Carolina.
24:06They did.
24:07And they won a shootout?
24:08Yeah.
24:08Yeah.
24:08So there was also the little bit of juice for that.
24:10Well, pretend that Columbus is Montreal.
24:13Let's just do that.
24:14Pretend that Columbus is Montreal.
24:16I saw Dobesh has his first dive in there.
24:19Does he?
24:20I missed that.
24:21He didn't go down.
24:22I watched a lot of that game.
24:22I didn't see one.
24:23He got pushed, and he did a...
24:26I got my Dobesh Diving Club shirt ready for the first Montreal game.
24:30Oh, was it the...
24:31Oh, him and Tavares?
24:32Yeah.
24:33Okay, yeah.
24:33Watch Dobesh, how far he goes back.
24:35Oh, yeah.
24:35The head goes so far back from a little shove.
24:39Yeah.
24:39All right, it's hockey season.
24:41We've got lots to get to.
24:43Paul Hamilton at 7 o'clock.
24:44Justin Turpin on the Patriots coming up at 8.30.
24:48Aaron Portsline, who covers the Blue Jackets, at 9.
24:50Lots and lots of stuff along the way.
24:52Our shots of audio as well.
24:53Jeremy and Joe here on WGR.