Best Sabres Reactions on WGR: Looking Ahead After The Weekend Win

0:00Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart Starts pounding horrors, hauntings, and mysteries is a weekly podcast twisted by me in Kaelinmore. Each week I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying, true urban legends, bizarre, true crime cases, chilling tales of backwards horror and more. So if you're looking to join a passionate community of the Darkly Curious, check out Heart Starts pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious. If I said your ticket to the Master's is, you have to eat an egg salad sandwich while you're there. You would do it. If you say eat this egg salad, full sandwich, full sandwich. You have to eat it while you're on the grounds of the gust. Nope. Not doing it. Unbelievable. It's Jeremy White and Joe D.B. I see. A whole sandwich? Yeah. You'll probably never win tickets to the Master's in your life.

1:01You know what else I'll never do is eat a full egg salad sandwich. Jeremy White. Put the tickets on the table so I can make the offer next year. Do it. I'll prove it. Anybody that wins the lottery, come into the studio and make the offer. I'll prove it. I won't do it. Joe D.B. I see. What if I made it for you and one other person? Does the other person need the sandwich? No. No, only you have to eat the sandwich. No. Have some heart. I would love to. I would love to do something that is easy for normal people and get to play. Agusta. I could not physically do it. Be a man. You're listening to Jeremy and Joe on Western New York Sports Giant WGR. Everybody happy Monday. I wore shorts today. I've been doing that lately just to like make a point to earth. I don't know. It's going to be like negative one tomorrow. And it's a little windy today. I would say four. Ferry shorts. Yeah. It's windy. Wind's not stopping me from wearing shorts though. Wind has never stopped me from wearing shorts. No. I mean, if it's really windy, there would probably come a point where like if you would

2:07woke up this morning and it was the wind that we had last night and overnight, which was like 30 miles per hour with 50 mile per hour Gus, then would you have still worn shorts? I think so. You still what if? I think so. What if it was 70 mile per hour winds with 90 mile per hour Gus? Now we're getting into I'm protecting my skin from abrasions. There you go. Right. Yeah, like debris sticks that are flying around that might hit your legs. Yep. And all right. It's fair point. It's going to be very cold tomorrow. By the way. Like a 60 degree drop from like a real feel 60 degree drop because today the high is 64. That's great. And then tomorrow the real feel gets all the way down to minus minuses minus minus six minus six. That's incredible. Yeah. Well, that's incredible. It is what it is. You know, we're almost through yesterday was beautiful. Great day to be outside. If you were able to get outside and all that, but, you know, going to be cold again.

3:08So anyway, we'll talk to Paul today. We'll talk to Sal today. The bills made a couple of moves over the weekend or at least one, Gino Stone. They had him safety to go with CJ Gardner Johnson who we did talk about a little bit. And the savers played the Leafs and they won. And there are some fancy stat sites that put the savers now at 100% to make the playoffs. So they clenched? No. They've not clenched. No. They've not clenched. And generally use what 100 means. That's right. If they were to lose. So in that, maybe that site's opinion lose out, they lose out, they don't make it right. You don't make it. What are their odds? If they lose out, if they lose out. Well, there's no 88 points. That's what they're at right now. Right. They're not making it at 88 points. So zero. That's what I'm saying. So they can't be 100. Can I say 100 if they're still the, I'm not over here thinking they're going to lose out. I was going to say it. I guess that site would tell you that there's a zero percent chance that they would lose

4:08out. It's impossible. Probably. Probably. They're going to get some loser points along the way. And they're going to make it. They're going to make it. 100% is probably rounding up 99.9 to make the playoffs. I mean, they have a nine point lead over Columbus right now. And that is with every team, seven teams below you. So you need eight teams to be better than you, the rest of the way. And many of them by eight points, nine points. You Boston to be better by eight, Detroit to be better by eight, Columbus to be better by nine. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. And it's not even going to come close to happening. Right. It's much more likely that right now they win the division than they even are threatening for a wild card. Oh, yeah. For sure. And they're eight points from a wild card spot. And the drought is ending. It's not over yet. Right. You're saying 100%. That doesn't mean the drought is over. I always wondered that. Right. How do we work?

5:08Is it the first date that all that's happening now count as the drought? I think it does. It's between playoff games, everything between playoff games, I think is fair game. So Dermott's first year, all right, this is beautiful, it's a perfect Monday conversation. Does the Andy Dalton, the Tyler Boyd play happen during the drought? See that's a good question because the bill, the bills are done playing when the Dalton, no, yeah. I think that counts. Yeah. That's in the drought. Yeah. Because they have not yet clinched. Yes. And it's between playoff games. All right. Yeah. I guess if the drought is between playoff games, that's, that's right. But if we, like if I were going to go back and like look up like, oh, who was the bills leading passer during the playoff drought, I would count Tyrod season 2017. Even though that season, they make the playoffs, right. I would count his stats from that year. Well, if you're doing, that's how I would do it. If you're doing between playoff games, yes, but I, when I think of the drought, I'm put a Twitter poll, it's years without the playoffs.

6:08That's what I think, which means that right now would not be the drought. It's not a drought year. This is a playoff year. Ooh, see, I like that too, though. That's right. This is not a drought year. We did not anticipate this this morning. No, it's, it is a, this is good. This is a playoff year. Put it in the group chat, folks. Put it in your group chats. What's the right way to do this? Is everything that's happening right now considered a part of the drought or something close to that? Feel like it can't be. It's very different. They're going to make it. They're going to make it, they might, when they're knowing they're going to make it is, it is also a different feel and it'd be tough to say a division winning season if they win the division is part of the drought. But it is the, I get it between games. Yes, if you're doing that. Yeah, right. Right. It is everything between the playoff games is what I'm, that's my starting point. All right, fair. But you're right. I don't want to call this a drought season because that would be ridiculous. Yeah. They're going to the playoffs.

7:09We know they're going to their goals. That's very different than the 2017 bills, right? Like we did not know they were going. We did not think they were going even when they were done playing the season for 20 minutes. We did not think they were going to the playoffs. True. This is a month to go like we're on cruise control. We know. Yeah, okay. We're kind of, this is like, well, maybe, maybe you're not there yet with Arsenal. This is like me last year with Liverpool where it's two months to go in the season and they're up by 12 points and I'm like, all right, I know they're going to win. I am not there. This is fun with Arsenal. I've discussed that mentality later this morning if you want, but that's this right now. It's a party. It's a month long party to celebrate the end of it and figure out where they're going to get ended up slotted seated. So which division is right now, I think the like list. I think so. Is I'm winning the division? These statsites, I don't really see like where their most likely spot is like is there I would wonder if they're most likely seed to land in is the number one spot in the

8:12Atlantic. Well, I keep looking at right, the regulation win differential and they're up by three there when Tampa has two in hand, Tampa has lost, is it seven of eight, seven of eight, seven of eight. So Tampa's got to find their form again and I mean, Montreal's still the mix too. So I think seven of nine, seven of nine, okay. So all right, when the division, if you want, they could, they have a four point lead and the tie breaker right now is how you would look at it. So that's kind of like having a five point lead. We were going to talk to Paul right now because he's going out to Vegas, the team's now going out for Sabres after dark, Vegas tomorrow stops in San Jose and Anaheim and LA, right? Those are the four stops. Seattle comes here later this month. But pulse flight, I canceled, so we got to move him. He was going to be on at six and we're going to, you know, have him enter the six o'clock club. And I was debating whether or not we should bring him on anyway just to get to the biggest issue that I think currently faces the Sabres, which is what to do with Shen and Stanley.

9:16It has been since the deadline, it has been an adventure with what happened to the Sabres defense and their third pair because the, the, the leaf game was the low point. Was it not? I mean, you had, you had a bad look here there. The Shen play to give up the first goal. It was a low point for Shen, for sure. Like in his two games, that was low point, that turnover. I don't even know where he's attempting to go with the pump. Right. Like watch the playback and don't even focus on the fact that he turned it over, focus on where you think he's trying to go with it. Just backhand out of the zone didn't get enough on it. Maybe there are three leafs between where he is with it and the closest Sabre in that direction. So I don't, right, maybe his plan is just to flip it and flip it out, not put it up the boards or put it up the middle, but pass the guy he turned it over to. Like Shen was brutal in that game other than like the fight, right, and, you know, they gave him the belt because he fired him up with the fight.

10:17But on the ice, yeah, I was not impressed at all. I thought Stanley was a little better in that game than he had been in the previous two. So that is the biggest problem right now because they look bad and you traded for them. So what, what inclination do you feel to really use them and have them out there? Like is it in the cards to say, well, the final, how many games are left in the season? 15 games? Yeah. The final 15 games in the season could go so poorly that you wouldn't have them on the ice. I think that could be the case for Shen. I think it could go bad enough for Shen that he's just not in the cards when you start the playoffs. And he's out there for vocal leadership and just to be in the room. Stanley I think is playing. I don't know if there's an amount of turnovers and bad play that exists where Stanley is not dressing for the playoffs. I think he's playing my wrong. He was their big deadline acquisition, wasn't he?

11:21No pun intended. I mean, Sam Carrick is right now looking like the big deadline acquisition. Well, no doubt he's good. He's good. He's good. But there's a little bit. It's funny of all the things that you would not have expected. Like, hey, guess what? The sappers are going to make the playoffs. They're going to look like they're made by mid-March, being the first place in the division and the moves at the deadline will make people wonder if the GM has together, like, whatever. He put his stamp on the team and physical and fight a little bit and defend each other and guys that they need the type of guys that play in the playoffs. I guess deciding that Zach Metza's not that kind of guy that should play in the playoffs because he's good. It would appear. But he's small. He's not one of these big dudes and it's funny to me because I was thinking about it. Maybe they got up the speed. Maybe he's just whatever, incorporate them a little bit more, get to find their perfect role how they should be used and you're good to go. Maybe you split them up and that solves most of your problems.

12:21That is a really good point. I saw that a lot over the weekend is don't judge Stanley based on him with Shen. We need to see him with Kesslering. That's your plan for a third pair and so far he's only played his first game with Kesslering not the next two. Yeah. Split him up. That's fine. I was thinking though, it's always funny because when you're talking deadline moves, you say, you know, you really don't want to mess with the chemistry of something's going well. Fair. I agree with that. They never say, you don't want to mess with bad players. Right. What did you put somebody in that is just a complete liability back there? It was, that was a little point when Shen had that turn over against the leaves and whatever. They saw their way through it. They got to win. I mean, they have a lot of defensemen right now. They do. Timins came back. Timins is back and going to be skating this week, Lindy said so like, I don't know where he's at. He broke his leg. So even with him being available, is he giving you what you were hoping at the beginning

13:24of the years? He capable of that. Because if he is, then I've got, I've got my top four and then I've got how many guys for two spots? I've got Stanley. I've got Shen. I've got Metsa. I've got Timins and I've got Kesslering. That's pretty good. That's five guys. Yeah. It can only pick two of them and I think what they, where they want to end up is Kesslering and Stanley. Like that's their third pair and maybe Stanley playing in the system and having to get a little more comfortable with moving around a little bit more can get better between now and the end of the year. He doesn't move very fast because every time someone says he's just getting up to speed, I think. I don't know if much more speed is going to be the thing that comes. It's a slow build. It takes him a while. Once he gets going, you know, it's, it's Keon Coleman in the gauntlet drill. Once he gets going, then like, then the miles per hour is better. Aren't you supposed to make me feel better right now? He's, he's a, what's the big plane, the big plane that flew over the stadium last year?

14:27The KC 135 maybe or the C5 galaxy. Right. That's Logan. I mean, you couldn't land that guy in an aircraft carrier. No, that's right. That's right. He's too big. So I'm open to that looking better. I'm not really open to Shen looking a lot better. He's just been that bad all year in a win-a-pag. Like, I don't think he's here for that anyway. I think he's here for vocal leadership and experience. And I think if he's playing for you in the playoffs, it's because you've had a lot of injuries. And I think he's below at the moment. Timons and Metsa and Stanley and Kessler. I think he's got to be the low man on that totem ball. Sabre's shootout win. It's only their fourth game to have gone to a shootout this year. And they are four now. They won all four. Talk has two game winners. Jack Quinn is now top five all time in shootout. I saw that. Everything's going right. They've won nine of 10. The Sabre's F. Yep. Because it's not a 10 game win streak. It's a nine of 10 game win streak. And now out west for, you know, some tougher games. So Tampa also goes out west, by the way. You're tracking them.

15:28They both teams are going out west. So Sabre's after dark, Lightning at the same time. The Lightning caliber of opponent is probably... The Lightning get a little better run here. They go in favor of Tampa. They get the crack in, the conucks, and the flames on this trip with oilers and wild as well. But yeah, those are three teams that I think Seattle, I guess, depends, whatever. They're nothing too good, right? They've been... They're in a blast spot. They've been bouncing in and out of a playoff spot most of the season right now. They're in the last spot. They're in the last spot. Yeah, right there with San Jose. Yeah. They're in and out. But yeah, they get two teams that are... The bottom. That are mailing it in. Calgary and Vancouver are the two worst teams in the league. Arguably. They're with the Rangers. Yeah. But by points, they are. Yeah. And by gold differential, they are as well. Yeah. So they get the two worst teams in the league, despite having to go out west, and then the Sabres have four teams that are all bubble teams, basically. So big games. Advantage. Tampa, but not the way they're playing. No. And the Sabres are next home.

16:29The next home game is March 25th, Boston. When they come back to home stand is probably a good one. You've got Boston, Detroit, Seattle, Islanders. Four in a row. Be some big ones there too. Good. What do we do now though? They're going to make it. All these fancy sites put them at 100%. What do we do? Just scouting them? We fight for the division. I guess so. You right. You watch Detroit. See if you should be worried about them. Imagine first round matchups against all the different teams that are possible for that, which are basically all of the teams that aren't top three Metro teams right now. I see a little bit of what would you rather win the division and play Ottawa or finish second and play Detroit or Montreal. And it's I get it. I understand the general conversation on Ottawa, maybe it was Darren Drager, who tweeted this, somebody wrote, they could miss the playoffs or go to the final and neither would surprise me. Like they're this very volatile team, but they have a lot of talent.

17:34And the difference between first and second for the Sabers and the Atlantic beside just playoff seating is first brings a banner. First hangs a banner. And does that have value in a building that doesn't have that many banners? And it would also help us remember this season where otherwise it's just all the year they broke the drought. The bills broke the drought and we all kind of remember it. There's not really much to commemorate it. If you win the division, you get to put up whatever, you know, you know, 506 was that right? There's no banner. No banner. Nothing. They come back and we have a night to remember a team that doesn't have anything in the rafters, despite being a beloved team. So this is the year that they kind of recapture everybody. And I think, right, what do you want to do? You want to go as far as you can. So I don't know that it supersedes the idea that you would get a better matchup. But to me, that'd be something win the division. Their last banner is a division banner. Yeah. When they went wire to wire. Their last banner has a slug on it. That's how long until we get a non-slug banner at.

18:37We do need a non-slug banner. Operation non-slug banner. Yeah. There you go. Can it be like a, like how the Lakers did it with Kobe? Like it's kind of like two for one banner, 24 and eight. We got half red and black, half blue and gold. I don't know. They won't do that. Whatever they call me, whatever they clinch it in. Okay. It won't be red. I agree with that. There's no way. It'll be red and black. The banner will be cool. I mean, how many, I guess does Tampa do it? Like most teams put up division banners, don't they? Oh, yeah. For sure. You win the division, you get a banner. Like maybe matchery. I mean, there's only four divisions. And the NFL, there are eight. And you put up. Wow, there used to be. You put up banners. Used to be eight, weren't there? No, there were six. There were six. There were only four. Yeah. Well, also, I mean, not only was the last banner a slug banner, it was the Northeast division. Right. If not one, this division, they've not made the playoffs in this division. So there's, there's no Atlantic up there, right? There's Adams division, there's Northeast division.

19:39There's no Atlantic. Yeah, I think what we do now is you measure the other teams around you and you figure out what you might want and you try to win the division. I, I do think you could debate like, okay, what's better, avoiding Ottawa or winning the division. Like I would just say it's not. I do respect Ottawa as a threat. I just give me the division. Like it's not, it's not that big a difference that I would want to forego that, that accomplishment. Like, I'm not telling you that I think Detroit wouldn't be an easier opponent. But I, give me the banner, give me the season, give me the, the memory of it, give me the title, give me Lindy, certainly winning the Jack Adams. If they win the division, I think like that, I think would help for that. I, I just think you win the division and you figure out who comes in after that and you, you know, you're rooting for, on the out of town scoreboard for who you might want. And I would agree. Like, dragger said they could go to the finals.

20:40I don't know if I can get four rounds out of all Mark like that, but they are one of the best teams analytically in hockey all season long, like they outplay their opponents all the time. They won what, seven to four last night. Yeah. They're three points out. They have to jump Columbus and then one other team. So there, I don't know what their playoff odds are right now, but it's not going to be super easy for them. I don't think 803 0 550 is our number. March madness about to begin as well. The tournament starts. That's why the Sabers are West. Yeah. Get away from the building because the building is going to be hosting South Florida, Louisville, North Dakota State, Michigan State, the winner of UMBC and Howard, Michigan, St. Louis and Georgia. Mm hmm. You know, St. Louis has made the tournament a bunch of times when I saw the logo and I knew that's the, that's St. Louis, the Billikens, right? I think the St. Louis, the Billikens, yeah, the St. Louis Billikens, who's the Billikens? I'm positive it's the Billikens, yeah, it's the Billikens because the mascot is the logo and the mascot is a Billikens or the Billikens or whatever that whole thing is.

21:42What is a Billikens? There's, why, what is a Billikens? There's a story about this. We do this every, every year. What is a Billikens, a mythical good luck figure invented in 1908 by a man named Missouri Art Teacher. The God of good things is they ought to be and they're the Billikens, they just made up a creature and that's the, that's, that's the, the school's mascot, a Billikens. They definitely put two bison teams on purpose in Buffalo, right? Howard, Howard, North Dakota State, the Bison, they're only two in the country and they both happen to be playing here. When the Colorado is not available, the Buffalo's, they're the Buffalo's, yeah. Right, two bison teams, both playing in Buffalo, he told me that was a coincidence. Yeah. Did you see, maybe it was, Mike Rodak had this quote, he's, uh, covers Alabama sports and the Nate Oates quote about where everyone's going to be sent and all that. He said, if you've ever lived in Buffalo in March, you don't want to get sent to Buffalo in March, which, hmm, the funny thing about that is everyone has to pretend to be mad

22:46about that. Well, everybody, it's harder to be mad about it when we're about to get negative two windshield. That's what I'm saying. The last week, I could be mad today, it's going to go to 16. We can try and pretend that Nate Oates said something bad. Have you seen the forecast Thursday through Sunday? All right. So what you're allowed to do then is you're allowed to be mad for the rest of today. And then the moment that the weather hits like 30 degrees, you're no longer allowed to be mad. Sure. The 10 day forecast. It's high 64 today. It doesn't get about 48 for 10 days. It's March. Don't pretend to be mad at Nate Oates. He lived here. He was saying no one wants to be in, that's true. It's the worst month, cold and rainy, the wind, anyway. So the tournament gets started at Keybank Center, not to be exciting. He clearly wasn't here for the Mario Williams March though. That's true. 80 degrees plus. So the tournament's getting started. That's exciting, a billion dollars lost in productivity according to all those studies and all that.

23:46And hopefully, if you know, if you're going to the games, enjoy. There's a long time ago since Syracuse was here multiple times as the one seat. Oh, what seat were they? They were the one. No, I know, but this tournament, they haven't made the tournament in three years. No, no. No, I was thinking about this. You know how people have, as the sabers have come back to life, rediscovered the entire NHL exists because they kind of died with the sabers. That is me with Syracuse basketball. I just pick incredible attention to college basketball. Now it's like, who? What? My team's not in the league anymore. Sorry, it might hire this South Florida coach. He's on the shortlist. The USF coach? Yeah. Go to the USF game this week, right? I mean, good. 803 05 50 1 8 8 8 5 50 2 5 50 to join us. Jeremy and Joe, we'll get to Paul at seven o'clock in his thoughts on. The win over Toronto and the swing out West.

24:47Plenty coming up here. No, no, no, no, no, no. Opportunity for another replay discussion today, always, always. And I could spend 10 minutes talking about Cam Young's tee shot on 18, also. Oh my god, holy cow, holy cow. He wins the players. Good for him. Cool swing. Cool player. Jeremy and Joe, join us at any point if you want here on WGR. I'm Sally home with the podcast history this week. In each episode, we serve as your eyes and ears into history's biggest events, major elections, world wars, scientific breakthroughs. But we also bring you into the smaller, behind-the-scenes stories. The unsung heroes, secret meetings, even personal grudges that changed the course of history. Listen to and follow History this week and Odyssey Podcast in partnership with the History Channel. We'll be available now for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. Alright, our guy Paul Hamilton, joining me from down at Keybank Center, down at practice.

25:47Wow, we hear it in the background, Paul, what's going on behind you, buddy? I'm closer, I'm at the glass here, I'm over at Harbor Center, so I'm a lot closer to the actual, okay, just than I usually am. Okay, what do we got on the ice? Why don't you give us an update to start a software anyway? Well, the injuries are back, Samuelson's on the ice, Ellis's on the ice, Pearson's on the ice, so those three, as we've thought, were a minor, so they're back and we'll see how that goes. Samuelson is back with Dallene, Metzus with Kesselring, and Shen is still with Stanley, so we'll see what that breaks down to tomorrow. Right, honestly, Sal, I really think Metzus earned the right to be in the lineup as the number five defenseman, I think he's the fifth defenseman on the team. He hasn't had been scored on since October, and I think he's only been on the Esports Eagles against all year, I mean, he just has been really, really good, and I think really

26:52has earned the right to be in the lineup at a nightly basis. I'll get to that in a second as well, what about Timins? Timins is out here? He came out for the morning skate the other day he's out here, so he's going. This time he just took a shift with Stanley, so we'll see how this all breaks down when they play the Golden Knights tomorrow. All right, that is our Saber's Injury Report, brought to you by Hamburg Overhead Door, is your garage door injured, call the experts at Hamburg Overhead Door to get your door healthy again. All right, let's stay on this defenseman stuff because that's been the talk really since these guys, you know, we're on the ice in Toronto and the game before that, a couple mistakes have happened, Shen and Stanley, you evaluate what you've seen from them and where they go from here as far as Lindy and what he's thinking. When they started off with four very rough periods, Lindy rough credited it to, you know, they don't play the same system as Winnipeg and the two of them are starting to get used

27:53to it, so, you know, we'll see about that. Now Mezzo right now is taking a shift with Shen, so we'll see, again, where that goes, but, you know, Mezzo has just been so good. He played with Dallin the other night, played a season high, 15 minutes and again was played really, really well, I'll guarantee you Dallin didn't complain. You know, he just, he's just, he doesn't get himself in jackpots. He always makes the right play, it's the safe play, he's, his passes are good to get out of the zone, his coverage is good, he does a good job of killing plays, and there's Lindy rough, he raved about him the other day, it went before he went on the ice with Dallin and said, look at, he, he deserves the right to be here because Sal, I kind of thought he'd go back to Rochester with all these defensemen and he still might, but, you know, when Lindy did say that he's earned the right to be here and I absolutely agree and to me, he's earned the right to be the number five defenseman.

28:55So how do you play it then for the other guys? I mean, if you're Lindy rough, are you just looking at these are depth guys, what's Stanley on the ice, when we need a little toughness, I mean, how, how do you think that he goes about it? It's always good to have depth, but you'll have to be careful, you don't want these guys on the ice and critical moments if they're going to hurt you. Yeah, but guys, everybody got better, they've been given the puck away for four games and everybody got better and that third beard against Toronto, it took Toronto 11 minutes and 41 seconds to get their first shot in third period, you know, and that, and Shannon Stanley were playing, they were part of it. As I said, I thought they improved as that game went on, they had that turnover that wound up in the net to start, but I thought they improved as the game went on and they had to have, I mean, for the sabers, as I mentioned, to only get give up, no shots in the first 11, 41 and I think to the whole period, they were pretty much back to themselves again where they defend well, don't give the puck away and don't give up too much. I know that Alex Tuck was dealing with a lower body injury, but he obviously played and

29:57scored the winning shootout goal. Anything you saw from Alex Tuck, you know, coming back in the way he played in that game specifically after dealing with a little bit of an injury. Yeah, he looked good. As he said, he felt better that day than he did the day before. He yelled at me before the post game because we had done, on the pregame, I asked him about he had been on a tear lately and how he's been doing real well and he's on a good streak and he said, you had to bring up the streak, didn't you, because he didn't get any points at that game. Yeah. I go, yeah. He used to say, he blamed you for the ball, I said, no, I told him, you did score, wasn't yeah, but it was in the shootout. I would have liked to help the team and get some goals in the regular part of it, but yeah, he had a little fun with me. Great pass, Noah Oslin on the power play goal, the Jack Quinn, by the way, who's heating up again? What have you seen from the two youngsters? We'll start with Oslin and go to Quinn. Yeah, Oslin's just so smart as a 21-year-old, you know, spending two years in Sweden, playing

30:58in a Sweden pro league before coming over and then spending a year in Rochester, it's only 21-year-old kid. And I remember when they drafted him, how they talked about one of the biggest things that was in Oslin's favor when they scouted him was his smarts and how smart he is about the game. And he studies the game and very rarely makes the big error. And that's actually what's happened here because, you know, I felt that, you know, he did okay last year when he came up, he wasn't bad, he wasn't good, he was feeling things out. And I felt this year it wouldn't hurt him to have another year in Rochester, he started there and then came up and did one of those try, taking me out of the line up coach rough because you're not going to, because I'm going to play so well, I'm not going to give you the opportunity to take me out of the line up and that's exactly what he's done. And now he gets a regular shift on the Norris line, he gets some power play time, as you mentioned, just to know that Quinn is over in that circle open and to give him no look

32:04backhand pass, not only to get it in the area right on the stick, so Quinn, you can just let the puck go, very savvy play by him. Paul, the Leafs come to town on Saturday night, they came to town, what, one game after what happened to Austin Matthews, we haven't had a chance to talk about it, what did you think of everything with the need and the hit and the suspension? Yeah, I mean, well, we're talking about the dirtiest hockey player I've seen in the national hockey league and he's been suspended many times before. He'll say, yeah, but you do one of my near team, I want nothing to do with him, nothing. I would not want him on any team I was associated with. I think he's a dirty player, I think he takes too many stupid penalties, I don't think he's that good at defenseman and about people like him because he fights and he knocks people around and that kind of stuff, which to some people is a lot more important than winning hockey games, but I thought the suspension should have been double that at least and because

33:08again, he doesn't hit and accidentally hurts people, he hits to hurt people. That's what he's trying to do, he's trying to hurt people, he's trying to take the best players off the ice. And if that's your thing, well then he's your player, that's not my thing, I just despise dirty hockey. Paul, I do not know the answer to this question because I was at a gala and I only watched it on my phone at the end, what was the building like? It's normally so many Leafs fans, what was it like Saturday night? They changed, Lindy Ruff commented with tongue in cheek and to laughter as he left the podium for the morning skate because I was hoping that Leaf fans would sell their tickets back to the same fan, I know. And I think some of that did happen, yes, it looked like a full house, but the Saber fans were heard, they were taking over, when you heard the Go Leaf Go, they got on it right away and drowned them out. And Wolf Goldtender said, this is the first time in my career, I've come in here and not

34:09thought it was a home game. He said, we've always felt it was a home game coming in here and he goes kudos to the Saber fans and he goes, they were back and they made it into a Buffalo home game. And we know too that Saber fans will show up out last, I was at the game in San Jose last year, one of the game in San Jose right before the losing streak started, but the game they won. So, I think Saber fans there, they'll be in Vegas, they'll be in LA and I think a lot more reason too. So I think Saber fans will well represent, you've been on these road trips, you know that Saber fans out west, this is their chance to go see their team. Yeah, well you better get on a plane and get out here, get out to San Jose, actually my plane, I've had two of them canceled so far today, so we're going to try it again tomorrow morning and which supposedly gets to me there by new and that doesn't work, I probably missed the game, I don't think there's any more flights that could get me there before the game. So, all goal-tending situation, give us an update on that. Yep, I'm sure we're going to still do the alternating, Ellis is back here, so, you know, I'm sure it's going to be an alternating situation with it being Lucanins turn, I thought

35:12Lucanin played extremely well in the due to one loss to the Washington capitals. And I don't know if I want to say a rebound game, because I kind of agree with Lindy Ruff when seven goals won it than that, because you might be able to tell me that one possibly two, you're looking for a big save, he goes there were at least five goals and he had no chance and wasn't making a save, he goes we absolutely hung them out to dry and we're awful. So I pretty much agreed with that, so I don't know if I want to say a rebound game, a rebound game where seven didn't wind up in the net, but as hockey often goes, you give up seven goals and you win and you give up two goals and you lose. I don't think we spoke after the Washington game, so just your quick thought on a rebound of the team overall, how they played in Washington versus how they against Washington versus how they played against Toronto, especially considering this is the time of year you cannot stack losses. Yeah, they absolutely got goalied in the first period, Lindbergh may 15 saves and was the

36:13absolute star of the game, the caps do not win that game without him, but in the wisdom of whoever depicts the stars for the savers, he did not get a star, even though he's the best player on the ice. And after that, it started going downhill for the savers, but you know, Luke and him made some great saves that the savers started turning the puck over again. And they just by the third period, the savers looked exhausted. They'd only given up nine shots in the first 40 minutes, they got out shot something like 13 to five in the third period. And even though Washington was the team that played the night before, Buffalo looked like they had played on four straight nights, they just looked exhausted. All right, Paul, good luck to your Iowa state cyclones as usual this time of year. I mean, at least you have a team in it and they're really high seed, too, by the way. Well, hey, the Iowa state women play the Syracuse women to open the NCAA tournament. I love that. I love it. We're going to have to win the winner gets a date on Yukon's court against Yukon.

37:15That's our guy Paul Hamilton Paul, safe travels out west, hopefully you get out there and everything stays back on track. Thanks a lot for today. Sounds good. Take care. All right. He's going to get into locker room. He's going to get some sound for us. We'll have that at WGR 550.com. And, and of course, at PM1717 is where you can find him. Paul's appearances on WGR are brought to you by equitable advisors. Planning for your future is about more than just money. Let equitable be your guide and by Ray Lax Honda, Ray Lax, we got this. We'll take a time out. We'll come back here. Hey, if you want to call in about Buffalo, what's going on this week, the savers, the NCAA tournament, feel free, 803, 0550 is the number. I am planning on getting you some sound from some of the players that have signed with the bills that you have not really heard from yet here on WGR in its entirety. CJ Gardner Johnson, Bradley Chubby, Alfred, so we'll kind of be fluted with that. And we'll take your phone calls as well here in the North town on a motive extra point. So I got some thoughts about the savers where they are right now. What's happening here with this hockey team and where they can go as well after this time on a WGR?

38:18Hey, it's the sports junkies. If anybody knows about die hard sports fans, it's us. We get to live and breathe the excitement of the season all year long, right alongside the most passionate fans out there. For advertisers, that passion matters. It's exactly why sports radio performs for brands. That passion, that excitement and engagement, you don't get that kind of dialed in attention anywhere else. People who listen to sports on the radio via streaming or on sports podcasts are nearly three times more likely to consider a brand that supports their favorite team. You're interested in reaching sports fans. We have the playbook for you. Check out our comprehensive ebook, State of Audio, Sports fandom. Learn where fans spend their time while avid fans drive stronger brand results and how categories like beverage, grocery and quick service restaurants are winning with sports fans on audio. If you want to reach the most valuable sports fans, check out stateofaudio.com.

39:41Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. I think I've never used Acute Tips and the Bulldog.

40:42I got to ask somebody how this monitor is not the monitor. It's like the program, the software that we use for call screening always gets like turn sideways when I get here, like to start a week, somebody does something to it that I can't imagine would be necessary that tilts me because then it's like, can you see what I'm doing right now? Yes, I can see what you're doing. It basically opens up like this. Right. It's a little bit off the screen. Yeah, that is not aesthetically pleasing. I need it close to perfectly centered, but I don't want to maximize it. I like that blue outer border, even though it's not the same color all around the screen. It's gradients. Yeah, mine's light blue on the left and darker blue on the right. I like it this way, but I have to do it and I don't understand. There are a lot of new people in here. I found out on Friday, I did not know this.

41:42I finally took the plunge and made the font bigger on my computer screens. You know, like since we've been on TV, YouTube, Twitch, hi, hey, bullpun, I want to wear these glasses because I don't like how my face looks without the glasses and where on camera and I'm vain enough to wear these glasses, but it made reading the computer screen very difficult because the font was so small and I know solve the problem by getting new glasses. Good point. It probably will take me two more years, but I'm going to get new glasses. You could just replace the frames in those glasses with like empties. It's like you're not wearing that, but you have the frames on your face. Yes, that's right. I could do that too. Don't want to do that for you. Or I could just get like some readers. Anyway, I Friday went, oh, you know what? I'm going to make the font bigger. I know I did and it's fine for me, except the Twitter looks like it's like a child's learning tool. Now, it's just everything is so big and Twitter is the one app that I have open all the time

42:48that just there's one tweet on the screen. It's just not, it's just all there's room for it. Yes. Yes. Well, it's ridiculous. Well, anyway, so I did this. I did not know that that now everyone else who logs into this computer has that giant font. They have the giant bulldog is old font. I thought it might be, you know, you're logged in that maybe just my settings would be the bigger font. You might as well have some oatmeal sitting there all the time. Exactly. Like Wilford Brimley is walking in any second. Like Zach is on this computer when he co-hosts from what was at the tendinune show and he's stuck with this now unless he wants to change it in which case then I would have to change it back. But I feel bad that I'm forcing that I thought it would be just just my, my log in would have this. Huh. But anyway, the whole, the whole anyone who sits at this workstation and logs in is going to get 150 percent screen. No. Because that's what I required.

43:48Good luck with that. Yeah. The Sabers are off to Las Vegas. Did you know that so it's Buffalo still four points up on Tampa? I'm sure you knew that. You have Twitter open, but you also probably have the hockey style. I do. Correct. Did you know that the lightning play all the same days this week as the Sabers out West? Oh, really? No, I did not know that. So Buffalo is what? It's Vegas tomorrow. San Jose Thursday. San Jose Thursday. And LA, LA is Saturday afternoon, like four o'clock, and then eight o'clock in a time. Sunday. Tampa is at Seattle Tuesday at Vancouver Thursday at Edmonton Saturday at Calgary Sunday. Every day the same, not all the times are exactly the same, but a week from now, well, we'll be about a third or so closer to the end.

44:50And so we'll be within like almost 10 games of the finish line. Yeah. Right. The Sabers will have 11 games left after this week and Tampa Bay will have nine. Tampa Bay then plays Minnesota at home next Tuesday. The Sabers are off until Wednesday against Boston. And then Tampa plays next Thursday again against Seattle. So they have at least six in a row against the West, all right, the lightning. And they're here one more time. And the Sabers don't play Tuesday and Thursday that week, they do play that Wednesday. So Tampa will pick up one of their two games in hand at that point by next Thursday. They will have only one fewer game played them Buffalo. They will have seven left and the Sabers will have, that's not right, is it? I think it is. They have six games, Tampa has six games between right now and next Thursday and they have 13 left, right? Well, there's a 15 left. I have a backwards. They have 15 left. The Sabers have. I don't know. No, no, no, no.

45:51Sabers have 15. They've got 17. So. Tampa has played 55 games. So they've got, yeah, they've, they've, they've got anyway, 17, yeah, whatever, no. I missed Friday. The Sabers played Washington on Thursday night. I missed, I missed Friday. They lost to the capitals on Thursday night and then survived the Leafs on Saturday in the shootout. We okay? I am. I think we should be, I mean, they dominated the game Saturday. I mean, they really did. They didn't show on the scoreboard, but it was not a game where you should feel fortunate to have gotten out of there with all point or even the extra point for winning the shootout. They were the better team by a lot. They just didn't score goals. You know, the Washington game was, was more of a slog, I guess. And, you know, they, they found their way to, you know, lose the game in regulation, kind

46:52of startlingly. You know, it's just considering how the game had gone. It felt from like halfway through like a game that was destined to go to overtime, but it didn't get there. Yeah, I don't have any, I don't have any crisis. I mean, I do think they have the, you know, the, it depends on how urgent you feel like any of this is. In the division, get the one seed in the east, whatever it is, you might be striving for them to, at this point, protect really. I mean, they'd have to pass Carolina, they're down by two points to them and Carolina's played one fewer game. So work to do there, but, you know, comfortable, you know, comfortable enough that, okay, Samus is not going to play. Let's give Stanley and Shen another spin and see if they can't sort of stabilize and that didn't go real well. But I feel like it's, what's our, what's going to be our, our best combination or combinations when we get to the playoffs? And so they have the freedom, I think, to sort of fiddle around a little bit with the

47:57lineup. But unless there's injuries, just kind of how I felt when they made the deal, I'm not going to need to see Luke Shen play anymore unless they have to. They want to rest somebody because they're comfortable with where they're at or something that's fine, but he and Stanley together is tough. And it's maybe making, even me, a little more nervous about Stanley on his own with Castle Ring or Metsa or whatever they end up deciding to do there because they've had a couple of rough games together. Those two games they played on a pair, I mean, Shen's turnover for Toronto's first goal was just all time bad on Saturday night. And so that, I don't think the plan was ever to have them be their third pair, despite it sort of looking like that. These last couple of games, because no Sanderson on Saturday night. But as long as Shen is left over there, which is I think what the plan is, give me Stanley, you want to try him with Metsa, you want to try him again with Castle Ring, whatever it

49:01is you want to do, fine, just I think Shen has already shown me bright glass in case of emergency, hopefully it doesn't come to that. I think the one that really wonder about is where Metsa fits in if he does on that third pair because he played again on Saturday and Lindy now is talking to him, talking about him after the game like he deserves to be in the lineup. He's been that good. So I'm not inclined to take him out now, he played a lot of minutes with Dallene, but he doesn't play any, he's not dangerous enough offensively for them to give him power play time, he's not a penalty killer. So he's a demon, you're putting in your lineup without any special teams usage and mostly it's been, you know, it's nice that he hasn't been on the ice for a five on five goal again since I think October, but it's really sheltered, you know, which is fine, if that's how they want to use he and Stanley as a third pair, I think that's that's totally fine.

50:01But I'm really curious to see what they do with him specifically, Metsa, he's more interesting to me. I think Shen is their seventh or eighth guy, he's not playing unless again, I think it's eighth injuries. Okay. So he to me is not that relevant, Stanley, I think they got to play regular minutes for this team in the playoffs size style, like they wanted that sort of abrasiveness back there. So he's going to play what are they doing with him, like who's pairing with him? Because the top four are the top four. And they've mixed in match when Metsa's in the lineup, he's taken turns with the other, the other big guys. I don't know that I've seen him with soundness at all, but I've seen him with power, Byron, and Dalline. So Metsa, I think, is kind of the wild card right now, because he's performed better than anyone besides those top, he's the best of the rest of their defense. You know when they made the trades, which is now last, what, Tuesday, Friday. We could go Friday.

51:02Oh, more than that. So yeah, 10 days ago, when they made the moves, Paul's first take was Metsa will go back to Rochester. And that has not happened. No. So I think benefit of the doubt to the Sabers, the trade aspect of it won't matter. It shouldn't really matter. And I think sometimes it can, the dynamics or the politics of it make, I think it's right to be, I guess, skeptical of what, you know, how the coach sees it versus how the GM sees it. I think Kekalainen, I don't mean this as a criticism, can maybe be somebody that when he's in the room, he kind of tells you how it goes. And I think when it comes to the press conference and sort of the credibility that went way up when he got the job with the Sabers, it seemed like I think maybe he has that sort of ability or, or trait. And if not to say Lindy Ruff couldn't hold his own against anybody, I mean, he's not

52:07a rookie coach, obviously, but he would need, for me, to feel best about this, he would need to have autonomy over who plays. I think, I think I want that. And thank you for trading for these depth guys, but I'm going to decide what we're going to do. Not in a, you know, combative way, but just like it's, you know, you like to think that's the coach's job. Right. And that's what I think they're kind of doing right now. Well, that's another piece, like you said, again, benefit of the doubt here is Samuelsen Badleyhurt, was Tuck Badleyhurt, you know, they have, they're in a position where they can kind of coast a little bit, if you will, to the end. And you know, that's a question we can talk about is whether that's the right idea. But they, they might be thinking that way, that we want to experiment with different combinations, we want to give guys nights off. They don't have to be obvious about it, you know, they don't even tell you usually what

53:11the injury is. So you can just say, yeah, he's, you know, maintenance, whatever you want to general body soreness was the Tim Connolly and that kind of sounds like what Samuelsen was saying. He's back at practice today. I thought so too. It's seemingly fine. So yeah, they, and they already, if you're getting to, you know, does, should rough, do you really worry that rough feels compelled to play these guys because they were traded for? I would say Stanley is, you, I think he should feel compelled to play Stanley. I think he's the best player of the bunch. And I think fit exactly a, a weakness that they felt they needed to address. And I would be surprised if Lindy is sour on that idea already just because it's been bumpy with Shen for two games here. I think that'll get sorted out and I think in the end, that's the only guy, but Pearson can be a fill in. He looked good. The first 90 played on that fourth line, I mean, they scored right away.

54:16But to me, Shenzhen's a spare part and Metsa is the piece, even before the trade deadline, I think I mentioned a time or two in a couple games leading up to last Friday's deadline. Metsa was starting this first time I noticed him and I got, maybe it had been happening for longer. I've gotten some feedback that indicates that Metsa had been getting, been getting shifts here and there around the lineup. And maybe that continues to the point where they might feel like in game, in a playoff game, there's a pocket in there where they can play him with Byroom or Dallin and not have any drop off and have a third pair again for part of a period or specific matchups where Samusen maybe is with Stanley and that that gives them their best six overall. And maybe it's just a little more balanced out rather than having a third pair that's really only in a play 10 minutes and it's an anchor and you're scared of it. Maybe mix the personnel up enough because Metsa does enough well stylistically that maybe

55:21you feel like that's why I feel like they were trying out whether he can play with those other guys. If he's on the ice against top competition with Dallin, what's it look like? Is he still making good plays? He's still not giving up a five on five goal, let alone even a scoring chance. If the answer's yes, then you're starting to maybe flesh out a little bit more what you're able to do with your personnel instead of relying on those top four so heavily because they still are, I mean they're great and the two pairs together are great but they have not really solved their third pair yet. Well, they're young, mostly I mean Dallin has been here eight years now, almost this is night season but you still have guys who are in there early to mid 20s, you want to think, I mean they also don't have playoff mileage, we're going to use that as opposed to that. Metsa might be older than any of them. He's 27. I'm thinking to the top four, like, right, just I'm going to live or die with that, you know,

56:23but I'm okay with, I want to be okay with it, I'll admit, but I am okay with the idea of sort of dabbling at this point with different ideas and, you know, rest if that's really what it is. I think that they've, they've got that luxury, you know, you think about goalies all the time, like necessarily, goalie usage is sort of built around rest. How many games do we have coming up, are they're back to back, is their travel? Well, I know I'm not going to use you, if I got even a delete goalie, I'm not going to use them 10 out of 10 usually. So, so the schedule is built around time off and I think you can do that here and I don't mind it because I guess that's a way of saying I don't think first place is so important. I'd love it, you know, I'd love it, but I don't think I need to just strain in these kind of ways to try to, you know, fend off Tampa Bay.

57:24If they do it, awesome, they get to play him again at home. They still have the four point lead from a week ago, right? And, you know, they've lost, Tampa has lost a couple Carolina beat him in regulation Columbus before that. So, you still have that edge speaking of goalies, which I sort of was, are we changing anything yet? Another week goes by, it's still alternating. You have a loss for Luke and then against Washington to one and you have Alex Lyon beating the Leafs and the shootout to what he makes two saves or there's a miss and a save like he, you know, he, he, another win for Alex Lyon, he faced two, two attempts in the shootout and I think one of them was shot by Mr. Net. Yeah. Am I doing anything? I've got back to back Saturday Sunday, but I have a little space here if I wanted to change the rotation. Lyon played for Vegas. If that means anything. Which it doesn't to me. No, it doesn't to me either. I feel like Luke and in was, I think I would have liked to save on one.

58:27It's only two goals. So, you hate to be so nitpicky about it. It's funny how the standards changed, right? But the first Washington goal wasn't, it wasn't good. I think he probably should have had it and, and what? Lyon's been better, I would say, on balance. But it surprised me at all if Lindy went, you know what, let's start the trip with Lyon and it would just pick up the rotation from there. That wouldn't surprise me. I don't know that you need to do it. But if he had any reason looking at their performances and wanted to lean Lyon just to get him the one more game, if it matters, I could see that. But Lyon also just faced San Jose last week and they play San Jose in their next game after tomorrow. Right. So, I don't know, that's as far as I would go. I would expect each guy to play two games on this trip. I think if he flips it, it's a story.

59:27Right. And he could say something about Lyon playing for Vegas, right? But it would still be a story like, I think it would look like he has made Lyon his number one if he did that. And I bet he's not ready to do that. I don't think he wants to have to answer to that. You know, there's still four points up. And it's going well enough. They've got a busy week, travel, four games in six days. Like, I don't think he has to do it. But I wonder if he wants to. Then he's also got two days off beginning of next week before the Bruins and he could reset then. You could do the same. He could ask himself rough the same question next week like, do I want to reorder this? And you know, maybe depending on how this week goes. Yeah. That would get you like Lyon would play three of the next five, whereas how it's situated right now is Luke and then would be scheduled to play for those five. Yeah. Right. If you're playing every other one. So that's where, you know, maybe there's a temptation to do it, but I'll bet not wanting

1:00:33to have to explain it would maybe remove the temptation. They're both good. The treating them like they're interchangeable. Any sign that he doesn't think they are if he's favoring one or the other, I don't think you need to do that now. They've been comparable enough. But I just suggested it just a way to get Lyon, but I think we would probably rightly so make some assumptions about that if he would tell you they're leaning Lyon, which maybe would be time to do that with only what, 17 games to go, 15 games to go in the season. They have 15 tampons. That's right. Now I know that. I learned that from you. It's where having the standings open and the font big. Wow. Really help. You can, not only is it right there, you can even read it. That's good. Why do I need to close? So I can be better at this. Yeah, both things. I can, I have an open and I can see it. Perfect. Need to close the New York Times games page, maybe 8030550 for your calls.

1:01:38We will talk plenty of football today, Sal Capaccio later, Jeff Bell returns from football guys. We'll talk about the draft with Jeff a little more than a month away. But you can never do enough of that Paul Hamilton, who will head out west tomorrow. It seems now, but he'll join us later in the show today to preview the week. Also the tournament. I first reaction was really disappointed in the teams we got. But then I looked back at it today, I'm like, well, Michigan, Michigan state will be kind of cool to have both. That could get feisty. And then Georgia, I mean, it's that football, but still like that's a pretty big, good one. It was cool. Yeah. Yeah, like it's okay. It's okay. But, you know, I've seen better. And I'm not going, well, maybe Saturday, but I'm not, I mean, you and I are working Thursday. Right. That was kind of excited for like who we'd get, hoping for Florida, that was never going to happen. Michigan is, you know, Michigan, Michigan, Michigan states, I think for, it's fine for

1:02:42like people worried about what, you know, what the turnout is going to be like. I feel like that's probably pretty good. Yeah. That's close enough. I don't know what I'm getting from North Dakota. Yeah, I don't know. Am I getting Carson Wentz to, you know, be in the crowd? That's his school, isn't it? Yes. Lines are open for your calls. What about the Sabers? The topics we've talked about already, sort of managing, you know, maybe it's a little bit of load management with guys. And I'm okay. How important is first place really is the right simple question about all this and goalies as well. Jeff Bell, Sal Capaccio, Paul Hamilton, as we go. Thanks for listening. Like, show up in the bulldog here, here, hope to hear from you next. This is... Welcome to Radio Rental. This is the scariest stories you've ever heard in your life. All told by real people. And off we go. This wasn't a human being there, I saw. There's something here in this house, something not of this world. There was a woman moving through the hall.

1:03:43I stepped back and I was completely alone. Radio Rental is available now. Listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.