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End of the Regular Season, NHL Playoffs Next for Buffalo: Game 82 Postgame vs DAL - Sabres Semantics · The Armchair GM's Sports Network

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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network. Welcome into
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Speaker 1: another episode of Saber Semantics right here on the Armchair
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Speaker 1: As always, Saberspantics is probably you bread to by Global
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Speaker 1: live from Key Banks Center, joined by Austin broad of
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Speaker 1: Elite Prospects, going to break down quickly these Sabers season
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Speaker 1: finale against the Dallas Stars, falling four to three in
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Speaker 1: an entertaining shootout, and most importantly looking ahead to their
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Speaker 1: first round NHL Playoffs series against the Boston Bruins. Also
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Speaker 1: here from Sabers head coach Lindy Ruff as well, Austin,
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Speaker 1: appreciate you taking the time to join us late tonight.
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Speaker 1: I know, wheels up for you in the morning and
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Speaker 1: an exciting weekend plan for you, but an exciting time
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Speaker 1: for the Sabers and something that we've been waiting for
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Speaker 1: on this show for what six years now, A playoff preview.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean in a weird way, a meaningless eighty
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Speaker 4: second game is something we're accustomed to. We're just not
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Speaker 4: customed to what comes after that eighty second game, which
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Speaker 4: is a playoff series.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so we're gonna we're gonna quickly, we're gonna discuss that,
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Speaker 1: we're gonna obviously look ahead to the series against the
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Speaker 1: rival Boston Bruins, so before we get going in things.
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Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but there was a lot
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Speaker 1: of things that just sort of felt like odd tonight
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Speaker 1: because one it was the Dallas Stars, Lindy Rough coached
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Speaker 1: against their coach with the Dallas Stars we all know
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Speaker 1: about nineteen ninety nine, Tyler Myers was on the other
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Speaker 1: end of the ice tonight, So it just felt like
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Speaker 1: some some weird vibes tonight on the Dallas Stars sort
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Speaker 1: of things. Is that maybe kind of fitting that the
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Speaker 1: Sabers final home game before they're regular their their playoffs
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Speaker 1: or against the Dallas Stars.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, a bit odd.
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Speaker 4: I mean, how often do you see a team I mean,
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Speaker 4: I guess it happened for Dallas this year as well,
3:01
Speaker 4: but Buffalo closing out the year with two non conference
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Speaker 4: games a bit of a little quirk in the schedule there,
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Speaker 4: and yeah, just some nice tie ins there for Lindy
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Speaker 4: and the Sabers and everything like that. But honestly, in
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Speaker 4: a weird way, wouldn't have it any other way, a
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Speaker 4: game that meant nothing for Buffalo and Dallas to kind
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Speaker 4: of just ease the end of this regular season and
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Speaker 4: get ready for what really matters, which is obviously the playoffs.
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Speaker 4: But good to see a little surprised there wasn't any
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Speaker 4: call ups for today. I kind of thought we thought
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Speaker 4: we'd get one or two Rochester guys up here, especially
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Speaker 4: with them having a day off or being off until Friday.
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Speaker 4: But interesting eleven and seven matchup tonight, and you know,
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Speaker 4: I got to see a couple of guys have a
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Speaker 4: big game, which is kind of good.
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Speaker 3: We can get into that as we kind of preview
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Speaker 3: the playoffs later.
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Speaker 4: On, but all in all, just yeah, weird mindset for
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Speaker 4: tonight's game because obviously did not care that much about
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Speaker 4: it and the result and everything. Just hopefully everyone was healthy,
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Speaker 4: which is kind of all that mattered getting through tonight.
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Speaker 3: But yeah, very very weird end to this season.
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Speaker 4: In a good way because the drought ended, but tonight
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Speaker 4: kind of hard to I mean, the building was obviously electric,
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Speaker 4: the crowd was great, fan appreciation, everything like that, but
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Speaker 4: being outside the building, obviously paid attention to the game,
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Speaker 4: watched the game like I would any other thing, but
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Speaker 4: didn't really have a lot of juice in this game
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Speaker 4: in the most positive way.
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Speaker 3: I mean that.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, who knows, maybe these teams will
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Speaker 1: be beating down the road. These are there are two
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Speaker 1: teams that obviously had fantastic seasons and you never know
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Speaker 1: what could could come later down the road in the playoffs.
4:40
Speaker 1: But a few I guess housekeeping notes talk about Austin.
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Speaker 1: The Rick Martin Award was given to Rasmus DLin this
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Speaker 1: year for his perseverance and on ice excellence obviously everything
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Speaker 1: he dealt with off the ice, and Beck Mallenstein was.
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Speaker 1: He broke a single season record for hits by a saber,
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Speaker 1: so two accolades that were shown in the jumbo tron
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Speaker 1: tonight along with the Atlantic Division Championship graphic and roars
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Speaker 1: from the crowd for each one of those.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean I don't think anyone doubted who's going
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Speaker 4: to get the Rico Award this year. I think, yeah,
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Speaker 4: like there was really no competition for not only as
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Speaker 4: good as he was this year, but just everything he
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Speaker 4: had gone through. Darling was a slim dunk. Malenstein getting
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Speaker 4: the record for the hits is good for him. It's like,
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Speaker 4: I know, there's like, you know, people be like, well,
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Speaker 4: if you're throwing a lot of hits, it means he
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Speaker 4: doesn't have the puck. But a guy like beck Meleenstein
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Speaker 4: deserves something memorable for this year, and getting a franchise
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Speaker 4: record for hits in the season kind of just speaks
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Speaker 4: to the style game that he plays and just how
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Speaker 4: much he can spark this team.
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Speaker 3: He's kind of.
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Speaker 4: Become, you know, not a glue guy, kind of gets
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Speaker 4: thrown around a lot a little bit too frequently for
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Speaker 4: my liking. So I'm not going to go with a
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Speaker 4: glue guy, but he definitely become He's become a guy
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Speaker 4: that fans have fallen in love with and just provides
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Speaker 4: a spark to the team. Reminds me a little bit
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Speaker 4: of Kaleta back in his heyday, But Valenstine's not as
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Speaker 4: reckless as kaletables.
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Speaker 1: No, And there's how many times did we see Maalenstine
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Speaker 1: lay a big hit, create a turnover and it led
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Speaker 1: to a Savers goal, right, So yeah, he was.
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Speaker 2: He's been fantastic this season.
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Speaker 1: Quickly, as you mentioned, a little bit different lineup tonight,
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Speaker 1: Lindy talked about in the morning skate today that they
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Speaker 1: were going to sit some guys in preparation for the
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Speaker 1: playoffs with nothing really to play for.
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Speaker 2: Can't really argue with that.
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Speaker 1: I know some people say, you know, should should be
6:29
Speaker 1: ready to go once Game one hits with your full lineup,
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Speaker 1: but I was okay with it tonight. Samuelson, McLeod, Zucker, Thompson,
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Speaker 1: and Dollene all sat tonight and we had eleven forwards
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Speaker 1: and seven defensemen. There was even the second power play
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Speaker 1: unit that had three defensemen on it, and I found
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Speaker 1: it kind of funny. Some of the bruising guys route
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Speaker 1: on the power play that you never see, but Greenway
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Speaker 1: was on the top line with Kozak and Alex Tuck.
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Speaker 1: But yeah, definitely, you know, one of those those scrambled lineups.
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Speaker 1: But you know, if you're the Sabers, you'll take that
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Speaker 1: in the situation that they're in.
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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, absolutely, And I mean I think everyone kind
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Speaker 4: of expected people to sit I think Dollion in Tage
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Speaker 4: are the obvious too, And then I was a little
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Speaker 4: curious as to how they were going to handle the
7:13
Speaker 4: rest of it, you know, Tuck, Norris, Benson, Doane, like
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Speaker 4: all those guys being in kind of all make sense
7:21
Speaker 4: to some degree. I know, maybe there was an argument
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Speaker 4: for resting Norris because of his injuries this year, but
7:26
Speaker 4: it's also it can kind of be reversed. Like, obviously,
7:29
Speaker 4: him getting through this game healthy was paramount, but getting
7:32
Speaker 4: a guy who's only played you know, forty odd games
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Speaker 4: another game is never a bad thing. Was a little
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Speaker 4: surprised on the McLeod or not benching. Benching is not
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Speaker 4: the right word, obviously, rest He was not one that
7:44
Speaker 4: I had pigged for rest, so it's a little bit
7:45
Speaker 4: interesting to see that one. But you know, the Sabers
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Speaker 4: go eleven and seven. Honestly, the only thing that mattered
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Speaker 4: today is being healthy. The lines were funny to watch,
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Speaker 4: The power play was funny to watch. Obviously, power play
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Speaker 4: wasn't much worse than this, this typical Sabers power play.
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Speaker 4: But yeah, glad that everyone who did play got through healthy,
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Speaker 4: and glad that they were able to get a guy
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Speaker 4: like Cage and Dolly and some rest because Dollie, everything
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Speaker 4: he's been through. Giving him a day I kind of
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Speaker 4: just soaked everything in is a good thing. Cage, I
8:14
Speaker 4: know there was that one practice like a week or
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Speaker 4: two ago where he had maintenance, So given him an
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Speaker 4: extra day off is always a good thing as well.
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Speaker 4: So the big guys, some of the big guys got rest,
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Speaker 4: Some of the big guys got to play. And I think,
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Speaker 4: I said the Norris Benson and Domeline performing as well
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Speaker 4: as they did again tonight, I think both I'm hoping
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Speaker 4: bodes well for the Sabers going into this because I
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Speaker 4: think that line is going to be a key player
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Speaker 4: for them in the next round or when the playoffs start.
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Speaker 3: We'll talk about that later.
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Speaker 1: Obviously, Yeah, that was the only line that did not
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Speaker 1: get mixed up tonight with some of the lineup changes. Benson,
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Speaker 1: Norris and Doan were very good tonight and I'm an agree.
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Speaker 1: And so Norris has only played in forty three games
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Speaker 1: coming into this game. He needs to get the reps,
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Speaker 1: you know, for a guy that's missed half the season.
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Speaker 1: So I was totally on board with him playing, and
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Speaker 1: obviously they needed him there.
8:57
Speaker 2: To get the point.
8:59
Speaker 1: So let's let's get forward here with the game stats tonight,
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9:11
Speaker 1: NET twenty eight twenty four in favor of the Stars,
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Speaker 1: Sabers went oh for three in the power play no
9:15
Speaker 1: shocker there, Dallas's second rank power play went in the
9:19
Speaker 1: National Hockey League went one for three tonight, and takeaways
9:23
Speaker 1: Sabers had four, Dallas had eight. I don't know if
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Speaker 1: there's anything you want to mention from the game stats tonight.
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Speaker 4: Well, like I said, I'll mention, you know, Norris and
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Speaker 4: Benson getting on the score sheets staying hot because I
9:34
Speaker 4: think that's a good thing. But I think most of
9:36
Speaker 4: the other stuff stat wise in this game is kind
9:38
Speaker 4: of just doesn't really matter because that's just the nature.
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Speaker 3: Of this game and everything.
9:43
Speaker 2: You know.
9:43
Speaker 4: Even I will say on the Dallas side, was a
9:46
Speaker 4: little shocked to see Ottinger starting Ken thought maybe they
9:49
Speaker 4: did give him a rest, But obviously that's Dallas.
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Speaker 3: They're not their own thing to worry about there.
9:53
Speaker 4: But yeah, no, I don't think the stats speak for
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Speaker 4: themselves that much tonight.
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Speaker 3: It is.
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Speaker 4: It is funny that the power play tonight as the
10:01
Speaker 4: virtually the same stats as their normal power play.
10:03
Speaker 3: You know it would have.
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Speaker 5: Though.
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Speaker 1: I did like the fact that Dallas basically played other
10:06
Speaker 1: than Merril Hayskin in their entire lineup that we're going
10:09
Speaker 1: to see, So I think that's a positive for Buffalo that,
10:12
Speaker 1: you know, they sat seven important players and they took
10:15
Speaker 1: a basically full Dallas Stars team to a shootout.
10:19
Speaker 2: So I think that's a positive in Buffalo sense.
10:23
Speaker 1: Moving forward with the scoring summary, Real Quick brought to
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Speaker 1: to find your next work opportunity. Today, Maverick Bork got
10:34
Speaker 1: the stars on the board one nothing in the first period.
10:38
Speaker 1: Josh Norris got it tied up with a really good
10:40
Speaker 1: shot over top of Ottinger on the left circle, going
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Speaker 1: over top of him far side from Zach Benson and
10:45
Speaker 1: Owen power. As you mentioned that line contributes again what
10:50
Speaker 1: with being able to stay intact tonight. Zach Benson got
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Speaker 1: a short handed goal in the second period. Right after that,
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Speaker 1: Dallas tied it up with nessa Lindell power play goal. Later,
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Speaker 1: it was Alex Tuck getting his thirty third of the
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Speaker 1: year on a really nice pass from behind the net
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Speaker 1: from Tanner Pearson, almost like a backhand no look pass,
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Speaker 1: and Tuck buries it on the goal line there to
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Speaker 1: make it three to two. Dallas tied it up and
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Speaker 1: then we went to the to an entertaining shootout where
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Speaker 1: it went to I believe four shooters each and Wyat
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Speaker 1: Johnston ended up getting the winner there. Norris and Quinn
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Speaker 1: scored in the shootout for Buffalo, but also did Robertson,
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Speaker 1: do Shane, and then Johnston got the winner after Dan
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Speaker 1: was stopped. So I don't know if there's any any
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Speaker 1: of the goals that you want to touch on tonight.
11:35
Speaker 4: No, I mean nothing specifically, right like you kind of obviously,
11:38
Speaker 4: the Benson shorthanded goals is a great individual effort by him.
11:41
Speaker 4: Cozat tripping the puck out, Benson being able to break
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Speaker 4: free and get the breakaway there. Norris Gordon, I know,
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Speaker 4: a Norris goal picking his spot. He's like I said,
11:50
Speaker 4: he has been on a heater lately, which I think
11:53
Speaker 4: is worth talking about. Other than that, you know, Jack
11:56
Speaker 4: Quinn does what Jack Quinn does in the shootout. He
11:58
Speaker 4: just stays hot. Sabers for a shootout loss, you know,
12:02
Speaker 4: five and one on the year now, I believe in
12:04
Speaker 4: shootouts is their record. They can't post that they're undefeated.
12:08
Speaker 4: Other than that, No, nothing, nothing specific to Touchronoga said.
12:11
Speaker 4: It's good good thing that they were able to, you know,
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Speaker 4: like you said, push a Dallas team icing pretty much
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Speaker 4: their entire roster to a shootout with the roster that
12:22
Speaker 4: they had. But the health and the and the confidence
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Speaker 4: of the depth contributors I think is the best thing
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Speaker 4: to take away from this, because if the Sabers go
12:31
Speaker 4: into the series against the Bruins, with that Norris Wine.
12:35
Speaker 4: Going the way they're going, I think they're going to
12:37
Speaker 4: be a dangerous, dangerous team.
12:39
Speaker 1: The Sabers finish their home record this season at twenty six,
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Speaker 1: ten and five, I'd say that's a pretty successful season.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, the home the home record very very very impressive.
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Speaker 3: Kind of.
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Speaker 4: Saw inklings of their home record improving a lot last
12:56
Speaker 4: year they had a pretty solid home record, but the
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Speaker 4: way it is this year, getting that home iice in
13:00
Speaker 4: manage back in Key Bag Center, I think will be big.
13:03
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously it's big for US fans, but you know,
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Speaker 4: I think Buffalo It sounds weird to say because of
13:09
Speaker 4: the playoff drought and how bad and toxic the building that's.
13:12
Speaker 3: Been over the years, but when that arena is.
13:14
Speaker 4: Buzzing, it is a very strong homelice advantage, and going
13:18
Speaker 4: up against a team like the Bruins who have a
13:21
Speaker 4: five hundred record on the road, that will be all
13:23
Speaker 4: the difference, especially having homelice advantage.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, the Sabers could have homelice advantage for at least
13:28
Speaker 1: the first two rounds of the playoffs. But we'll get
13:30
Speaker 1: to ahead of ourselves there. But they finish, as we mentioned,
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Speaker 1: top of the Atlantic one hundred and nine points. They'll
13:36
Speaker 1: play the Boston Bruins in Round one. The only team
13:38
Speaker 1: that finished higher than them were the Carolina Hurricanes with
13:40
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirteen points, who clinched the Eastern Conference.
13:44
Speaker 1: And overall, the only teams better than Buffalo were Colorado,
13:48
Speaker 1: this Dallas team that they saw tonight in Carolina.
13:50
Speaker 2: So fourth overall in the league.
13:52
Speaker 1: I guess I'll leave it on that, you know, the
13:54
Speaker 1: Sabers just to be able to finish, you know, at
13:57
Speaker 1: the upper echelon of the league with teams like that,
14:00
Speaker 1: I don't think we could ever have imagined that back
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Speaker 1: in November.
14:03
Speaker 2: So it's just it's.
14:04
Speaker 1: It's still crazy for me to look at the standings
14:06
Speaker 1: right now and see Buffalo fourth overalls as the season
14:09
Speaker 1: comes to an end here.
14:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, it's surreal.
14:13
Speaker 4: It's surreal to see them in a top of the Atlantic,
14:15
Speaker 4: in top five in the league. It just no one
14:20
Speaker 4: could have comprehended this or even envisioned this so great
14:23
Speaker 4: regular season. Now it's now it's time. It's time for
14:29
Speaker 4: the real thing to start.
14:31
Speaker 1: It is, so we are going to take our commercial
14:34
Speaker 1: break right now, We're going to come back. We're going
14:36
Speaker 1: to hear from Saber's head coach Lindy Ruff, and then
14:38
Speaker 1: Austin and I are going to preview the first round
14:41
Speaker 1: matchup against the Boston Brew And so stay right here,
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18:25
Speaker 5: You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.
18:35
Speaker 4: Here we call what Talking Book, Here we call the boys, and.
18:42
Speaker 1: We welcome back to part two of today's Sabersmantics episode
18:53
Speaker 1: right here on the Armchair GM Sports Network. Probably you
18:55
Speaker 1: brought to my Global pet Foods where pets are unanimily
18:57
Speaker 1: Parla family and their three great Niagara Region locatetions Niagara Falls,
19:00
Speaker 1: Fon Hill and Scott Street in St.
19:02
Speaker 2: Catherine.
19:02
Speaker 1: If you're listening to this the next day on the sixteenth,
19:05
Speaker 1: that is the Thursday, you can go to any three
19:07
Speaker 1: of the Global pet Foods locations to get your dog
19:10
Speaker 1: or cat a free dog treet. Courtesy of this Sabers
19:13
Speaker 1: home victory to close out the regular season, and courtesy
19:16
Speaker 1: of us here at Sabersmantics, we appreciate them as always.
19:19
Speaker 1: Brandon Putto and Austin brought EU elite prospects back with you.
19:22
Speaker 1: Just quickly went over game number eighty two of the
19:25
Speaker 1: Sabers season and looking the head now to the NHL Playoffs,
19:29
Speaker 1: it's going to be the first time at Key Banks
19:31
Speaker 1: Center and the Sabers are.
19:32
Speaker 2: Going to host the first game.
19:34
Speaker 1: Austin, I find it kind of interesting that we still
19:37
Speaker 1: don't know what when this first game is going to be.
19:40
Speaker 1: Maybe by the time this comes out we'll have some answers,
19:42
Speaker 1: but even though they've known their opponent now for a
19:44
Speaker 1: few days, we still don't know. With the way the
19:47
Speaker 1: NHL playoffs, scheduling goes and TV rights and building availability.
19:52
Speaker 1: It's going to be interesting to see when they actually
19:54
Speaker 1: schedule these things.
19:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, part of me is wondering if they're waiting for
20:00
Speaker 4: or I believe that Vegas gets a point tonight against Seattle,
20:05
Speaker 4: they'd clinch the Pacific and then that'll kind of lock
20:08
Speaker 4: in the matchups.
20:08
Speaker 3: It'll just be I know Edmonton and Anaheim both.
20:13
Speaker 4: Play Thursday, so I'm wondering if they're just waiting to
20:17
Speaker 4: see if the Pacific Division winner gets locked in, because
20:19
Speaker 4: other than that, I genuinely don't know what they're waiting for.
20:22
Speaker 4: I know there's been a couple of rumors here and there.
20:25
Speaker 4: I believe the Lightning have to open on Sunday because
20:29
Speaker 4: their arena is not available on Saturday. But again, these
20:32
Speaker 4: are eligious rumors that I've seen floating around, hoping, hoping
20:38
Speaker 4: to hear sometime tomorrow during the day, because again, if
20:43
Speaker 4: we're waiting on the Western Conference Pacific teams, they play
20:47
Speaker 4: late at night, and I can't imagine the NHL wants
20:49
Speaker 4: to drop their playoff schedule on a Thursday night at
20:52
Speaker 4: ten o'clock pm Eastern time.
20:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Sabers fans, you gotta do better when looking
20:56
Speaker 1: at this looking at Twitter sometimes again, I saw that
20:58
Speaker 1: that fake tweet going round from Frank sarah Vali about
21:02
Speaker 1: Tate McCrae and the Wiggles being here at key Bank Center.
21:05
Speaker 2: That is not true.
21:06
Speaker 1: The only thing scheduled here I believe it is like
21:08
Speaker 1: a Barry Manilow concert next Wednesday, and I don't know
21:11
Speaker 1: if even that's gonna happen. So, Sabers fan, you got
21:13
Speaker 1: to look this stuff up. But yeah, so the Sabers
21:16
Speaker 1: don't have any any conflicts here at key Bank Center
21:19
Speaker 1: to open up the weekend.
21:21
Speaker 2: As a Bills fan.
21:21
Speaker 1: Yourself, Austin, and I'm sure a lot of the Bills
21:23
Speaker 1: fans out there, I'm not one of them. So I'm
21:26
Speaker 1: asking this question honestly here, would you love to see
21:29
Speaker 1: a Sabers first playoff game be like a one o'clock
21:32
Speaker 1: Bill Sunday start?
21:36
Speaker 7: Me?
21:37
Speaker 3: Personally, absolutely not.
21:38
Speaker 4: I want the Saturday five o'clock window is what I want,
21:46
Speaker 4: but not like it is what it is.
21:47
Speaker 3: I I do think.
21:51
Speaker 4: Again, logistically speaking, I do think if confirmed Tampa and
21:54
Speaker 4: Montreal are starting on the Sunday, I don't know why
21:57
Speaker 4: the NHL would want both of their Atlantic Division and
22:00
Speaker 4: matchups both kicking off the same day.
22:01
Speaker 3: But maybe they do.
22:04
Speaker 4: I do know there was that again some Bruce Garioch
22:08
Speaker 4: from the Ottawa Sun had reported that Ottawa or to Ottawa,
22:12
Speaker 4: someone had requested that Ottawa Montreal don't play on the.
22:14
Speaker 2: Same days Hockey Night in Camp.
22:17
Speaker 4: Probably yeah, I'm guessing that also probably has to do
22:21
Speaker 4: with the market, right, Ottawa Montreal very close. You know,
22:23
Speaker 4: there's a heavy French Canadian population in Ottawa, so they
22:26
Speaker 4: probably would like to be on different days, which again
22:28
Speaker 4: logistically makes sense. Ottawa is over on the metro side
22:31
Speaker 4: of the playoff bracket, so again just logistically speaking, would
22:35
Speaker 4: make sense to have one Atlantic one metro on Saturday,
22:40
Speaker 4: one Atlantic one metro on Sunday. But you know this
22:43
Speaker 4: is the NHL, who knows exactly what brains they'll be
22:46
Speaker 4: using to come up with this schedule. But ideally, I
22:50
Speaker 4: think just Game one starting on a Saturday makes so
22:54
Speaker 4: much more sense. You have great vibes around the city
22:56
Speaker 4: on a Saturday, don't have to worry about going to
22:58
Speaker 4: work the next day. Can you imagine the scenes on
23:01
Speaker 4: downtown Buffalo on a Saturday night if the Sabers play
23:04
Speaker 4: at five o'clock and beat the snot out of the
23:06
Speaker 4: Bruins in Game one. It would be great. But that's
23:10
Speaker 4: also obviously biased from a Sabers fan. But I'm hopeful
23:13
Speaker 4: for Saturday.
23:15
Speaker 1: I'm still wondering how they're going to be able to
23:17
Speaker 1: fit all these people at Canal Side. But I mean,
23:20
Speaker 1: the more the merrier, I guess, and it'll be a
23:22
Speaker 1: good problem to have. But infrastructure downtown Buffalo, I don't
23:25
Speaker 1: know if it's going to be able to handle the
23:26
Speaker 1: amount of people that are probably going to want to
23:28
Speaker 1: come down for this thing.
23:31
Speaker 3: Oh, it'll be able to handle it. It'll be able
23:32
Speaker 3: to handle.
23:33
Speaker 2: It, no problem, Okay, I hope.
23:35
Speaker 1: So I want to I want to see everybody have
23:36
Speaker 1: a great time for the first time in fourteen seasons,
23:39
Speaker 1: be able to have, you know, those outdoor watch parties
23:41
Speaker 1: and things like that. It's going to be a rocking
23:42
Speaker 1: downtown Buffalo. So let's get to Sabers head coach Lindy
23:46
Speaker 1: Ruff with his postgame comments from the game, and then
23:49
Speaker 1: also looking ahead to the series against Boston, which is
23:51
Speaker 1: going to be the meat.
23:52
Speaker 2: And potatoes of what we're going to talk about today.
23:53
Speaker 1: So as always, that's brought to you by while those
23:55
Speaker 1: OUTAI repair a helping customers stay safe and confident on
23:57
Speaker 1: the road in niagress Is twenty twelve and on of
24:00
Speaker 1: the late William Robert Hunter. Here's the Sabers head coach
24:02
Speaker 1: Lindy Ruff as they look ahead to the NHL playoffs.
24:06
Speaker 8: Lendy, how'd you feel about the game itself? He had
24:09
Speaker 8: a bunch of that weren't in the lineup. How did
24:13
Speaker 8: you feel as far as it went before? Of the
24:16
Speaker 8: guys he did play.
24:17
Speaker 9: You know, I thought it was a good effort, started
24:19
Speaker 9: a game. Well, you know, I thought overall we did
24:24
Speaker 9: We did a lot of good things in the game.
24:26
Speaker 9: Made a few mistakes that cost us goals, handed them
24:28
Speaker 9: a couple of goals, but we had, you know, a
24:33
Speaker 9: great opportunity to late to win it, and then a
24:35
Speaker 9: couple opportunities and overtime encouraged.
24:38
Speaker 4: To see Josh and Harris kind of entered the playoffs
24:42
Speaker 4: a little bit about it.
24:43
Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, I think that's a real positive for
24:45
Speaker 9: a great goal. He could have scored the one in overtime,
24:50
Speaker 9: but that almost got through him and just a little
24:52
Speaker 9: bit higher. I think it goes in. But you know,
24:55
Speaker 9: we know, he's a big has to be a big
24:57
Speaker 9: part of it, and the fact that he scored her
24:59
Speaker 9: last few games is it's got to have him feel good.
25:02
Speaker 8: Makes me feel good.
25:03
Speaker 3: Norris and Benson.
25:04
Speaker 8: I mean, like you said versus Key, Benson's getting points and.
25:08
Speaker 3: You know, your top guys up and.
25:11
Speaker 4: Get shut down in the playoffs and a lot of
25:13
Speaker 4: teams running that he meet the middle guys putting some
25:15
Speaker 4: points on.
25:15
Speaker 9: Yeah, I thought Benson had a real good game tonight.
25:19
Speaker 9: He was all over the place and with us dressing
25:21
Speaker 9: eleven forwards, you know, double shifted him a little bit
25:24
Speaker 9: and got a great effort to scored a you know,
25:27
Speaker 9: a real nice short handed goal. So yeah, you know,
25:32
Speaker 9: I think you've pretty well nailed it. Usually you do
25:35
Speaker 9: a real good job against the top guys and the
25:37
Speaker 9: secondary scoring, it's gonna be real important.
25:39
Speaker 8: There are times he scores some real pretty goold I mean,
25:42
Speaker 8: and that I think would be one of them. Does
25:45
Speaker 8: he show you at times and kind of talent he
25:47
Speaker 8: has offensive.
25:48
Speaker 9: Well, I thought he had to puck on a string
25:50
Speaker 9: there tonight. A lot of times stick handling and puck
25:54
Speaker 9: possession was real good. And you know, I think around
25:58
Speaker 9: the nets kind of his area to score. You don't
26:02
Speaker 9: see him a lot of times scoring off the rush.
26:05
Speaker 9: It's mainly, you know, the small players around the net
26:09
Speaker 9: that he gets rewarded for.
26:11
Speaker 10: Games like this, you can experiment a little bit. He
26:13
Speaker 10: saw second power play.
26:16
Speaker 7: Have you ever done that before?
26:18
Speaker 9: No, we just wanted the extra right handed shot, you know,
26:22
Speaker 9: with the left handers on one side. You know, I
26:25
Speaker 9: thought we had you know that first unit we used
26:29
Speaker 9: that three or four unbelievable chances to score. You know
26:33
Speaker 9: that our killing was doing an unbelievable job. And you
26:35
Speaker 9: look at the goal they get. You know, they whip
26:37
Speaker 9: one wide, hits the skate and goes in off of
26:40
Speaker 9: our skates. So uh, you know, sometimes you gotta be
26:42
Speaker 9: a little lucky. I thought, are both our units generated
26:46
Speaker 9: some good opportunities for units that only practiced a little
26:49
Speaker 9: bit together this morning.
26:50
Speaker 10: I mean, Glendy, given this was a relatively mean nothing
26:52
Speaker 10: game and you want to get through your focuses on Boston,
26:56
Speaker 10: as competitive as it was and as competitive the Savers were,
27:02
Speaker 10: does continue to valide your trust that this team knows
27:05
Speaker 10: what how to handle situations and know what its identity is.
27:10
Speaker 9: I guess, well, I think we know what our identity is,
27:12
Speaker 9: and uh, we've battled hard all year. The consistency level
27:18
Speaker 9: of our team has been has been excellent. Uh, you know,
27:24
Speaker 9: the hard compete, the blocking shots, you know, all that
27:28
Speaker 9: part of that game is you don't get to where
27:30
Speaker 9: we got if you don't have that part of the game.
27:32
Speaker 9: And I think they've proved that. You know, you could
27:36
Speaker 9: have said it, maybe say that you wouldn't if you
27:39
Speaker 9: drop off after a month or two. But we've been
27:41
Speaker 9: remaining pretty darning consistent for the last four months.
27:44
Speaker 7: What you can tell your team about the lead up
27:47
Speaker 7: the game, not necessarily, but what do you tell them
27:50
Speaker 7: these next couple of days.
27:52
Speaker 9: You know, we started today with you know, everything's about preparing,
27:56
Speaker 9: taking care of yourself, eating, sleeping everything, you know, doing
28:00
Speaker 9: all the little extra stuff from treatments and coming to
28:03
Speaker 9: the rink, getting everything you need. We've have every tool
28:07
Speaker 9: for those guys to use to be ready to play
28:11
Speaker 9: game one. We don't know when game one is yet,
28:13
Speaker 9: but we're going to prepare like it's Saturday and then
28:16
Speaker 9: it's Sunday. We make a small adjustment.
28:19
Speaker 3: Going up against a team like Boston.
28:20
Speaker 2: How important s Mallenstein going to be broke?
28:22
Speaker 3: The hit record as well for the team.
28:23
Speaker 9: Tonight, Well, you know, Malice a guy that's laid on
28:27
Speaker 9: the line all year. He's a guy that's hard to
28:29
Speaker 9: play against, great accomplishment. He's the guy that I don't
28:34
Speaker 9: think other teams like playing against. Those type of guys
28:38
Speaker 9: are important players in the playoffs. The shot blocking his
28:42
Speaker 9: effort most nights is second to none.
28:45
Speaker 1: There was Sabers head coach Lindy Roff on the Wild
28:48
Speaker 1: Bills out of repair post game Austin looking ahead to
28:52
Speaker 1: the Boston series.
28:53
Speaker 2: There he talked about knowing what their identity is.
28:55
Speaker 1: They've remained consistent over the last few months, and everything
28:57
Speaker 1: is about preparing for Boston, and they have every tool
29:00
Speaker 1: and resource to be able.
29:02
Speaker 2: To do so. So I don't know if you had
29:03
Speaker 2: any quick takeaways from what he said tonight.
29:07
Speaker 4: No, I mean, like he said, I liked, you know
29:10
Speaker 4: what he said about obviously piggybacking off the Balenstein question,
29:13
Speaker 4: but pretty much saying like it's it's those depth guys,
29:16
Speaker 4: it's those role guys who tend to make a difference
29:19
Speaker 4: come a playoff series.
29:21
Speaker 3: And for the.
29:21
Speaker 4: First time in a long time, I think that Buffalo
29:24
Speaker 4: has a very good cast to those guys, whether it's
29:26
Speaker 4: a Beck Mallenstein, whether it's a you know, give Jordan
29:30
Speaker 4: Greenway credit. He's he's looking like a much healthier version
29:35
Speaker 4: of himself. Still doesn't have like, you know, he's never
29:37
Speaker 4: been an elite skater, but he's got some juice to
29:39
Speaker 4: him and he's using his size properly. Things like that.
29:46
Speaker 4: Just and just how he reiterated they know their identity.
29:49
Speaker 4: I don't think it's a shock to anyone that up
29:52
Speaker 4: until maybe about the ten game mark last year or
29:59
Speaker 4: at some point late last year. I think Tuck even
30:02
Speaker 4: said in an article in the offseasons like it took
30:03
Speaker 4: us way too long to buy into Lindy system. Well,
30:06
Speaker 4: I don't think anyone can kind of question that this
30:09
Speaker 4: team is bought into Lindy system and knows what their
30:12
Speaker 4: identity is now. And that's kind of just what we've
30:14
Speaker 4: seen over this eight and two game season is they work,
30:19
Speaker 4: they play hard, they use their you know, their their
30:22
Speaker 4: offensive skill, but they can they buy into what Lindy
30:25
Speaker 4: expects of them. And this is no longer a team
30:28
Speaker 4: that has to has to play and run and gun,
30:32
Speaker 4: you know, seven five games. This is a team that
30:34
Speaker 4: can if you want to play that style, they'll play
30:36
Speaker 4: that style. If you want to play the one nothing,
30:38
Speaker 4: grinded out game, they will play that game. So good
30:41
Speaker 4: for Lindy and how he's getting this team ready for
30:43
Speaker 4: the playoffs. I do my conspiracy brain is he said
30:50
Speaker 4: he's going to prepare like a Saturday.
30:51
Speaker 3: He doesn't know his Saturday. I don't know.
30:53
Speaker 4: I'm kind of I think that they I think they
30:58
Speaker 4: have an inkling of when they're going to play. But
30:59
Speaker 4: maybe maybe that's just my tinfoil being put on.
31:04
Speaker 2: Sometimes they don't give off as much as they might know.
31:06
Speaker 1: Right, And you know, Lindy's definitely earned the right to
31:10
Speaker 1: be in the Jack Adams Trophy discussion. I think this
31:13
Speaker 1: year in the National Hockey League back in November, we
31:15
Speaker 1: were talking about who's going to replace Lindy when Adams
31:18
Speaker 1: has possibly fired as well, and he's really gotten the
31:21
Speaker 1: team to buy in because lastly, is like how many
31:25
Speaker 1: times over the years have we just said that the
31:26
Speaker 1: team knows what they have to do and they just
31:28
Speaker 1: don't play the way. They just don't buy into the
31:30
Speaker 1: way that they need to play, or even that first
31:32
Speaker 1: year under Lindy, as you mentioned, this team just seems
31:35
Speaker 1: like they are finally getting through as far as how
31:37
Speaker 1: they need to play and then seeing the results and
31:39
Speaker 1: knowing that it does work with what we've seen over
31:42
Speaker 1: the last three months.
31:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you know, such a stark contrast between
31:52
Speaker 4: the first twenty games of the year and the last
31:54
Speaker 4: sixty of them, like there wasn't any significant roster change.
31:58
Speaker 4: Is the only significant change Adams being fired. So you know,
32:02
Speaker 4: Lindy and Yarmo deserve a lot of credit for being
32:05
Speaker 4: able to turn this ship around, not because of anything
32:08
Speaker 4: that Yarmo did to tweak the roster, but just they
32:12
Speaker 4: clearly told the team now or never, and they responded
32:17
Speaker 4: to that messaging extremely well. And that's why they are
32:20
Speaker 4: Atlantic Division champions. That's why they are the number one
32:22
Speaker 4: seed in the Atlantic, you know, going into a playoff series.
32:26
Speaker 4: It's why they broke the drought. It's why, like you
32:28
Speaker 4: just said, a guy like Lendy Ruff absolutely deserves to
32:30
Speaker 4: be in the Jack Adams conversation. Realistically, probably should be
32:34
Speaker 4: the front runner. That's a debate for another day though,
32:36
Speaker 4: But this this is a team that set expectations for
32:43
Speaker 4: like this set I can't even say unrealistic expectations because
32:47
Speaker 4: I think there's realistic now to expect this team to
32:51
Speaker 4: go on a deep playoff run, which would if you
32:53
Speaker 4: would have told me, you know, earlier in the year,
32:56
Speaker 4: if this team broke the drought, I think I would
32:58
Speaker 4: have been like, yeah, that's cool. Realistically, I just need
33:01
Speaker 4: them to get in. But the way that this year
33:03
Speaker 4: has gone and this team is played entering the just
33:08
Speaker 4: making the playoffs isn't gonna isn't gonna do it, isn't
33:10
Speaker 4: gonna cut it.
33:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've kicked down the door and changed expectations from
33:15
Speaker 1: just being happy to be in the playoffs for the
33:17
Speaker 1: first time in fourteen years to now, other than Carolina,
33:19
Speaker 1: you could have home ice advantage all the way to
33:21
Speaker 1: the Stanley Cup finals. So again, those are crazy words
33:25
Speaker 1: coming out of my mouth. But with this team and
33:28
Speaker 1: the way they've been playing, it's not out of the
33:30
Speaker 1: realm of possibility. But we got to look ahead to
33:32
Speaker 1: this first round matchup and our playoff previews brought to
33:35
Speaker 1: you by the niagardentri Clinic creating Nacro Smiles in the
33:37
Speaker 1: Nagara region for over twenty five years. Austin, we know
33:39
Speaker 1: they're gonna go up against Atlantic Division rival Boston Bruins.
33:44
Speaker 1: The obviously gonna have home ice advantage as well on
33:47
Speaker 1: the Sabers side, so that's that's also good as well.
33:50
Speaker 1: The Sabers this season against the Bruins. I just have
33:53
Speaker 1: to pull up the head to head matchup. Excuse me.
33:56
Speaker 1: They went one one and two against Boston this year,
34:00
Speaker 1: Boston three and one in that sense, A couple of
34:02
Speaker 1: games went to extra time, overtime, things like that. So
34:06
Speaker 1: what are you expecting from what we're going to see
34:09
Speaker 1: with this series and what are you expecting that they
34:12
Speaker 1: need to do in order to have success against this
34:15
Speaker 1: pesky Bruins team.
34:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's crazy to think about, Hey, here's
34:19
Speaker 4: your reward for winning the Atlantic? Is you get to
34:22
Speaker 4: go up against the I think the ninety eight points
34:26
Speaker 4: the ninety eight point Boston Bruins. The year the Sabers
34:28
Speaker 4: win the Atlantic and make the playoffs just so happens
34:31
Speaker 4: to be the year where the Atlantic is by far
34:33
Speaker 4: and away the best division in hockey.
34:34
Speaker 3: There is not a.
34:35
Speaker 4: Single team of the five representatives from the Atlantic Division.
34:39
Speaker 4: There's not a single one that's an easy out. I
34:42
Speaker 4: think this season record doesn't really matter in this case
34:45
Speaker 4: for either team. Boston got Buffalo early on in the
34:48
Speaker 4: year when they were atrocious, injury riddled and things like that.
34:54
Speaker 4: And on the flip side, the Bruins fans can just say, well,
34:56
Speaker 4: you got Corpusalo three times and the only time that
34:59
Speaker 4: swingmen played Buffalo scored one goal. So this literally might
35:02
Speaker 4: be one of the few times where I can say
35:04
Speaker 4: throw the regular season record out. It doesn't really matter
35:08
Speaker 4: in terms of what Buffalo is going to need to do.
35:10
Speaker 4: Obviously there's the cliche stuff, right, you got to play
35:13
Speaker 4: your game and everything like that, blah blah blah. But
35:15
Speaker 4: I think the true X factor for this series will
35:18
Speaker 4: be Lucanan versus Swayman. Not a slight towards Lucanan at all,
35:24
Speaker 4: but Swayman is clearly the more proven goalie, especially in
35:26
Speaker 4: the playoffs. I think right now there's no significant area
35:32
Speaker 4: where Boston has an edge on Buffalo.
35:34
Speaker 3: The only thing I can think of is the goaltending.
35:36
Speaker 4: And that's not a slight on Lucman, as I said,
35:38
Speaker 4: it's just with Swayman's proven track record, I think right
35:41
Speaker 4: now Lucnan is going to have to outplace Swayman for
35:45
Speaker 4: in order for Buffalo to win because that's just Swayman
35:48
Speaker 4: is the goalie that can steal a series for a team.
35:51
Speaker 1: And when you're looking at Boston's point discrepancy, Austin David
35:55
Speaker 1: Pashanok had one hundred points and then it's a drop
35:58
Speaker 1: off to sixty eight to Morgan Geek second on the team,
36:00
Speaker 1: Pavel Zaka at sixty five, Macavoy sixty one, Arvidson at
36:04
Speaker 1: fifty four. They signed as a veteran free agent. We
36:06
Speaker 1: know Casey Middlestat's also over there as a former Sabers
36:09
Speaker 1: first round pick, so you expect him to have a
36:12
Speaker 1: you know, a prove it series against his old team
36:15
Speaker 1: most likely. But really, shutting down number eighty eight on
36:18
Speaker 1: Boston is going to be paramount for buffalo f success.
36:22
Speaker 4: Oh absolutely, And like you said, like we've reiterated on
36:26
Speaker 4: this episode multiple times, the depth is going to be key.
36:29
Speaker 4: I biases aside. I like Buffalo's depth more than Boston's
36:34
Speaker 4: just playing and simple. Yeah, they they have poster Knock Geek,
36:38
Speaker 4: he's an elite goal scorer and everything like that.
36:40
Speaker 3: And you know, middle.
36:41
Speaker 4: Stat Harvidson and Minton were at times one of the
36:44
Speaker 4: best lines that the Bruins have had. But realistically, I
36:48
Speaker 4: just think that Buffalo's you know, depth up front and
36:53
Speaker 4: their depth on defenses is better than the Bruins. To me,
36:56
Speaker 4: it really just comes down to, are you going to
36:58
Speaker 4: be able to like is the elite there's no talent
37:05
Speaker 4: jered Me Swayman going to show up or are you
37:07
Speaker 4: going to be able to make him human? Because if
37:08
Speaker 4: the Sabers can get to Jeremy Swayman, I think they're
37:11
Speaker 4: going to win this series. And I gotta be careful
37:16
Speaker 4: here because obviously I'm not trying to get too far
37:18
Speaker 4: out of myself. I don't think it's crazy to say
37:20
Speaker 4: that Buffalo's the better team and shouldn't be expected to
37:23
Speaker 4: win this series. I think, like I said, the only
37:26
Speaker 4: thing given me pauses the goaltending. I love Buffalo's top four.
37:28
Speaker 4: I think Buffalo's top four defense can be matched up
37:30
Speaker 4: with any other teams in this league. I don't think
37:33
Speaker 4: that's a stretch to say. I think their forward depth
37:37
Speaker 4: is elite. And like I said before, if that Norris
37:41
Speaker 4: line is going, Buffalo is going to be dangerous and
37:44
Speaker 4: they're going to be able to take it to Boston.
37:47
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean I think Buffalo is as you mentioned,
37:51
Speaker 1: like even goaltending, lucan In and lie In and even
37:54
Speaker 1: Ellis at times have proven that they can they can
37:56
Speaker 1: handle it. I know you mentioned Swayman is the more
37:58
Speaker 1: proven goaltender, but I think Buffalo has them offensively. I
38:02
Speaker 1: think they have them, you know, in the defensive zone.
38:05
Speaker 1: I know Buffalo's power play is going to have to
38:07
Speaker 1: obviously be a point of emphasis to get better in
38:09
Speaker 1: this series if they want to have success. But they
38:12
Speaker 1: had more goals for than Boston this year. They gave
38:14
Speaker 1: up less goals than the Bruins did, and again, like
38:17
Speaker 1: the Bruins, like their their home record was pretty was
38:21
Speaker 1: pretty successful this year twenty nine to eleven and one,
38:23
Speaker 1: but their road record sixteen sixteen and nine. And Buffalo's
38:27
Speaker 1: going to have home ice advantage in this series. So
38:29
Speaker 1: I think I already mentioned Buffalo's a strong home record
38:32
Speaker 1: this season twenty six wins as well, So you have
38:36
Speaker 1: to take that into account too, of home ice advantage
38:38
Speaker 1: being a big deal and swaying in Buffalo's favor with
38:43
Speaker 1: the statistics on both sides as well.
38:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly like you said.
38:48
Speaker 4: The one things that they say, you know, it's it's
38:51
Speaker 4: a hockey thing in general, but it's even amplifying in
38:53
Speaker 4: the playoffs with special teams and goal attending right, I
38:56
Speaker 4: think at five on five, Buffalo's a better team.
38:58
Speaker 3: There's not really much of a question about that.
39:00
Speaker 4: I think if the series is played mostly at five
39:01
Speaker 4: on five, the Savers will be fine. If they do
39:04
Speaker 4: somehow find a way to get the power play going,
39:06
Speaker 4: that's obviously a huge plus. That is obviously another area
39:09
Speaker 4: of concern. I think all Sabers fans would agree with that.
39:12
Speaker 4: I think the other thing that Buffalo will need to do,
39:15
Speaker 4: or I guess not to do, is don't get sucked in.
39:19
Speaker 4: Right Like the Bruins are a savvy I know, not everyone. Obviously,
39:24
Speaker 4: this is a much different Bruins team than the dynasties
39:27
Speaker 4: that they've had, but a lot of these guys have
39:29
Speaker 4: been there been in playoff series and things like that before,
39:31
Speaker 4: whether it's with the Bruins are with different teams. Don't
39:34
Speaker 4: let them suck you in and muck this series up,
39:37
Speaker 4: like the guys like Nikida Zidorov will do. Let them
39:40
Speaker 4: play their game, don't buy into it. Obviously, step up
39:43
Speaker 4: for yourself when you need to step up for yourself,
39:45
Speaker 4: but don't be deterred from playing your game. You control.
39:50
Speaker 4: They're gonna need to control the narrative this series. They're
39:52
Speaker 4: not gonna make Boston play your game. Don't play Boston's game,
39:55
Speaker 4: is basically what I'm trying to say. And if they
39:56
Speaker 4: do that, I genuinely do think they'll be fine. I
40:01
Speaker 4: wouldn't be surprised if this is a long series, just
40:04
Speaker 4: because I think that every team in the Atlantic Division
40:06
Speaker 4: is very dangerous. But I do think this is a
40:10
Speaker 4: series where the expectation is the Sabers should win this.
40:13
Speaker 4: I don't think they're you know, we are a Sabers fans,
40:16
Speaker 4: we are a Sabors podcast. But I think I'm being
40:19
Speaker 4: pretty objective when I say that. I think they're the
40:22
Speaker 4: better team, and I think you know they're the number.
40:24
Speaker 4: They're the Atlantic Division champions. They should be expected to
40:27
Speaker 4: win this.
40:27
Speaker 1: And to me, like there was points in the season
40:29
Speaker 1: where we didn't even think Boston would be a playoff team.
40:32
Speaker 1: They've They've gone through some tough stretches this year. This
40:34
Speaker 1: isn't the bergeron Marshawn Chara. You know, rask Boston Bruins
40:40
Speaker 1: that we've seen in the past. I know they still
40:41
Speaker 1: have Pasternak Lindholm. You know Zaka was injured. He's back.
40:45
Speaker 1: Morgan Geeky, you mentioned a little bit, but to me
40:48
Speaker 1: like this Bruins team has shown times this year where
40:50
Speaker 1: they've played very inconsistent as well, and under their coaching
40:54
Speaker 1: staff as well. So I think, again, if Buffalo can
40:57
Speaker 1: get the power play, you know, right right, did the
40:59
Speaker 1: sho ship there because they have. It's not like it's
41:02
Speaker 1: a talent issue. They have an abundance of talent and
41:04
Speaker 1: abundance of different players they can put on in different
41:06
Speaker 1: roles to make the power play successful. It's more so
41:09
Speaker 1: scheme and how they're going about the power play that
41:13
Speaker 1: has been the issue. Even though they're ranked what eighteenth
41:16
Speaker 1: in the NHL and power play, they have looked like
41:19
Speaker 1: a bottom five team on the power play, which is
41:21
Speaker 1: incredible to think about considering how much success they've had,
41:24
Speaker 1: or maybe even how much more success they would have
41:26
Speaker 1: had if the power play would have just been decent,
41:29
Speaker 1: you know, the last little bit and just the eye
41:31
Speaker 1: test right, like we've talked about it for months on end,
41:34
Speaker 1: it just doesn't look right.
41:35
Speaker 2: It doesn't.
41:36
Speaker 1: The second unit has looked better at times, So I
41:39
Speaker 1: just think the X factor of this series is going
41:41
Speaker 1: to be Buffalo taking care of business. As you mentioned
41:44
Speaker 1: as the favorites coming in against the Bruins team that
41:46
Speaker 1: just lacks the total depth that Buffalo has right now
41:50
Speaker 1: on the forward side and on the defensive side. That
41:53
Speaker 1: if Buffalo does what they're supposed to do and takes
41:55
Speaker 1: care of when they give an opportunities score on them,
41:58
Speaker 1: I think that the Sabers can end this thing in
42:00
Speaker 1: five or six games.
42:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, one hundred percent. Like I said, the Bruins are
42:04
Speaker 4: clearly a very talented team, like top to bottom. I
42:07
Speaker 4: just think the Savers are deeper played and simple and
42:12
Speaker 4: power play is obviously going to be the talking point.
42:15
Speaker 4: A cliche to say that, obviously, because that's been the
42:18
Speaker 4: talking point for the Savers all year, But yeah, if
42:21
Speaker 4: that power play gets home and then gets on a
42:22
Speaker 4: hot streak like they were, you know, around December January,
42:26
Speaker 4: this will be something that Buffalo can can do in
42:30
Speaker 4: quick order. But until that happens, it's kind of I'm
42:34
Speaker 4: not gonna hold my breath, is basically what I'm saying.
42:36
Speaker 4: They're gonna have to control this series at five on five,
42:38
Speaker 4: which they're more than capable of doing.
42:41
Speaker 1: I think it was uh, Mike Harrington asked and that
42:44
Speaker 1: press conference about you know the top everybody's top six
42:47
Speaker 1: usually cancels itself out more times than not five on five,
42:50
Speaker 1: and you're gonna need those depth guys to come through.
42:52
Speaker 1: How do you feel about Buffalo's bottom six. We know
42:55
Speaker 1: that that Norris Benson Dome line has been so good,
42:57
Speaker 1: you know, with the dogs on a bone mentality, they
42:59
Speaker 1: have the fourth line hopefully Sam Carrick could possibly be
43:03
Speaker 1: back for some time in the playoffs, but if not,
43:05
Speaker 1: you know, they've got Mallenstine as some of those other
43:07
Speaker 1: guys on the fourth line. So what are you thinking
43:09
Speaker 1: from that bottom six being able to contribute? And I
43:12
Speaker 1: think that, you know, that could be a swaying point
43:14
Speaker 1: in the series as opposed to if Boston or Buffalo's
43:17
Speaker 1: bottom six are the ones to be able to come
43:19
Speaker 1: through here.
43:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, whether you look at the Norris line of the
43:23
Speaker 4: McLoud line as their third line, I think either one
43:25
Speaker 4: is very capable of third line. We know how good
43:28
Speaker 4: that Quinn Sucker McLoud line can be. As for the
43:30
Speaker 4: fourth line, obviously not having Krart Kurtz, but like I said,
43:33
Speaker 4: giving Greenway the credit, he's looked a lot better. Valenstine
43:37
Speaker 4: is who he is, and honestly, whether it's Kozaker gun
43:41
Speaker 4: for game one, I think the X factor for that
43:45
Speaker 4: fourth line is I fully expect when he's healthy, Noah
43:47
Speaker 4: Oastland to be the center on that fourth line come
43:49
Speaker 4: playoff time, and I think he'll make that fourth line
43:51
Speaker 4: even more dangerous because he'll provide that offensive flair. But
43:54
Speaker 4: obviously he's doubtful for Game one, so I think really
43:58
Speaker 4: the story for the fourth line, especially early on in
44:00
Speaker 4: the series, is just going to be get the puck
44:03
Speaker 4: out and cycle it in their zone, and if you
44:05
Speaker 4: get an opportunity capitalized, if not, just possess the puff
44:08
Speaker 4: because there that line is built. Again with Dune or Kosac,
44:16
Speaker 4: that line is built to just grind you out and
44:18
Speaker 4: physically punish you.
44:20
Speaker 3: I think, like I.
44:21
Speaker 4: Said, adding Olsen to that line, which is where I
44:23
Speaker 4: think he will play when healthy, will I think make
44:25
Speaker 4: them a much more dangerous line.
44:27
Speaker 3: But early on it's just going to be.
44:31
Speaker 4: Like you said, whose death steps up and just the
44:34
Speaker 4: way that Norris Benson and Don't have been playing.
44:37
Speaker 3: I can't, I can't count, I can't root against not
44:42
Speaker 3: root against them. I can't bet against them.
44:43
Speaker 4: That line honestly has been the most effective line in
44:47
Speaker 4: the Sabers half. And if that line steps up, I've
44:50
Speaker 4: said it three times already on this episode. If that
44:52
Speaker 4: line is playing the way that's playing, they're not only
44:55
Speaker 4: going to be dangerous, but they are going to be
44:57
Speaker 4: able to impose their will on teams and that will
45:02
Speaker 4: go a long way to going on and not only
45:04
Speaker 4: beating the Bruins potentially, but a deep, deep playoff run.
45:07
Speaker 1: And with that being said, talking about the opponent, I
45:09
Speaker 1: know that Tampa Bay, they Lindy like to put out
45:12
Speaker 1: Stanley and Shn and have a bigger, bigger sort of
45:15
Speaker 1: line up there. Who I guess we'll ask you forward
45:18
Speaker 1: and defense. Who do you want to see as that
45:21
Speaker 1: that last that twelfth forward on the on the fourth line,
45:24
Speaker 1: And who do you want to see as the sixth
45:25
Speaker 1: defenseman because we sort of know the five that are
45:28
Speaker 1: going to be in there with Dolleen. You've got miss Samuelson,
45:32
Speaker 1: You've got Power, You've got Byrom, and you've got stan Lee.
45:35
Speaker 1: So it's always about that last person. Kessel Ring, Shn
45:39
Speaker 1: and Timmins are the guys that are sort of in
45:41
Speaker 1: there right now, who are you expecting to see in
45:44
Speaker 1: Game one as the sixth defenseman.
45:46
Speaker 3: Oh, it's gonna be the guy you didn't mention. I'm
45:50
Speaker 3: that's the reason why it's.
45:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't see any reason why it's not gonna
45:53
Speaker 4: be Metsa down the stretch when needed. For the most part,
45:56
Speaker 4: it's been Stanley and Metsa. He has had a bad
46:00
Speaker 4: game against Washington. Absolutely don't see any reason why Russ's
46:04
Speaker 4: gonna pull the plug on there. Maybe I still am
46:07
Speaker 4: on the tessel Ring train. I still think he can
46:09
Speaker 4: be extremely effective and useful, especially in a playoff series.
46:14
Speaker 4: As for the twelve forward, obviously, like I said, this
46:16
Speaker 4: goes back to Oceland just being doubtful for Game one.
46:20
Speaker 3: I don't know. Maybe I'll lean.
46:22
Speaker 4: Wean towards done, but I feel like it's just gonna
46:25
Speaker 4: be Kozak because that's kind of who they've been playing.
46:28
Speaker 4: I don't think there's really a wrong option. But I
46:30
Speaker 4: do like Josh Dunn's style in a playoff series. He's
46:33
Speaker 4: bigger than Kozak, He's more physically punishing than Kozak. I
46:37
Speaker 4: think I'd prefer to see him, but my expectation is
46:41
Speaker 4: it'll be.
46:41
Speaker 1: Kozak given their playoff experience, and I'm just using this
46:45
Speaker 1: for the sake of argument, do you see any scenario
46:48
Speaker 1: where either SHN or Tanner Pearson get in given you
46:51
Speaker 1: their their experience in long, deep playoff runs over their
46:54
Speaker 1: their NHL careers.
46:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I don't think they're in for Game one,
47:00
Speaker 4: but I could see a scenario where they get put in,
47:03
Speaker 4: but hopefully it doesn't come to that. Nothing against Pearson.
47:05
Speaker 4: I actually like Tanner Pearson a lot every time he's
47:07
Speaker 4: been in. He's here for depth though, and like I said,
47:12
Speaker 4: just done or Kozact being able to play the center
47:13
Speaker 4: position leads me to believe that they will be in
47:17
Speaker 4: over a guy like Pearson. As for Shen, just really
47:23
Speaker 4: just depends on how much you think Boston's going to
47:25
Speaker 4: try to be like Tampa Bay. And I know they're
47:29
Speaker 4: going to, but I just I don't see nothing against Shen.
47:31
Speaker 4: I just don't see the need for putting him in
47:33
Speaker 4: and potentially actively making your lineup slower when your speed
47:38
Speaker 4: should be your biggest.
47:40
Speaker 1: Advantage, and putting a mobile partner with Stanley is going
47:44
Speaker 1: to be paramount in my opinion, Yeah, exactly, So, I
47:48
Speaker 1: don't know if there's anything else you want to mention
47:49
Speaker 1: about this series, but I think that that's pretty.
47:52
Speaker 2: Much all we know with the moment.
47:53
Speaker 3: Do we want to do a prediction or your care
47:57
Speaker 3: Why not?
47:58
Speaker 1: I mean I already said five or six. Gonna stick
48:00
Speaker 1: with that, I'll say for the sake of the show,
48:03
Speaker 1: I'll say Sabers and six.
48:06
Speaker 4: All right, I'm gonna give us the full playoff experience
48:10
Speaker 4: our first time that I'm gonna go Sabers and seven.
48:13
Speaker 2: I thought you were gonna go Sabers in four.
48:15
Speaker 4: No, we're getting a game seven. Come on, we're gonna
48:17
Speaker 4: get We're gonna get a full fifteen years worth of
48:20
Speaker 4: emotion and have to sweat.
48:22
Speaker 3: Out a seventh game.
48:24
Speaker 2: Just please don't have I do.
48:26
Speaker 4: Buffalo is going to win this series, but I just
48:29
Speaker 4: and at Boston is the team that I preferred over Ottawa.
48:33
Speaker 3: But I'm not discounting Boston. They are a very good team.
48:35
Speaker 3: I just think Buffalo is better.
48:37
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, Buffalo is gonna win
48:38
Speaker 4: this series, but Boston's gonna put up a fight. Posternofy
48:41
Speaker 4: is good enough to steal a game, and I think
48:46
Speaker 4: Swayman's good enough to steal a game.
48:48
Speaker 3: Or two.
48:49
Speaker 4: But at the end of the day, I think that's
48:51
Speaker 4: the one thing I love about the NHL is most
48:52
Speaker 4: of the time, the better team comes out on top.
48:54
Speaker 3: Buffalo is the better.
48:55
Speaker 1: Team, and we know Boston and their players have sort
48:58
Speaker 1: of gone through those playoff runs as well, so I
49:01
Speaker 1: guess you could say that they might have some players
49:03
Speaker 1: that are are more accustomed to the playoffs, and these
49:06
Speaker 1: Sabers players are going to take their first first crack
49:09
Speaker 1: at it for a lot of this core, so you
49:11
Speaker 1: might think that that favors the Bruins to at least
49:13
Speaker 1: win a game or two in this series. So even
49:15
Speaker 1: though on paper it looks like the Sabers should win,
49:17
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, it's not going to be an easy out,
49:19
Speaker 1: but I'm also happy with this matchup Overada.
49:22
Speaker 3: Want to be honest, yeah, absolutely, I said.
49:25
Speaker 4: I think there's no easy team in the Atlantic, Like
49:27
Speaker 4: I said, but I think at the end of the day,
49:32
Speaker 4: Boston is eerily similar to Buffalo in terms of their
49:34
Speaker 4: underlying numbers are about middle of the league league average,
49:37
Speaker 4: and they vastly outperform them. Buffalo is very similar in
49:41
Speaker 4: that way, but Buffalo is much better in terms of
49:45
Speaker 4: their ability to like Boston gives up quite a bit.
49:49
Speaker 4: They give up high danger chances, to give up quality looks.
49:52
Speaker 4: Buffalo has gotten a lot better at the gaming those
49:55
Speaker 4: And I just think that at the end of the day,
49:58
Speaker 4: as good as the top line for Boston can be,
50:01
Speaker 4: and as good as a guy like Charlie McAvoy is,
50:04
Speaker 4: from the top guy on the roster to the bottom
50:07
Speaker 4: guy on the roster, Buffalo is better. And I dare
50:11
Speaker 4: I say, I am very I'm by boten on Lucanan.
50:14
Speaker 4: I don't expect Lucanan to slow down anytime.
50:17
Speaker 2: Soon, Absolutely not.
50:19
Speaker 1: And I'm going to finish off with an X factor
50:22
Speaker 1: player for me is going to be Jack Quinn. You know,
50:24
Speaker 1: he got twenty goals this season, a career high. If
50:27
Speaker 1: he can contribute on the power play, if he can
50:28
Speaker 1: contribute five on five, I think on that second line
50:31
Speaker 1: for Buffalo or the third line, however they sort of
50:33
Speaker 1: shake that out. I think Jack Quinn is going to
50:35
Speaker 1: be an X factor player other than as a complimentary
50:38
Speaker 1: piece to those that those top end guys that you
50:40
Speaker 1: expect to produce.
50:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, my X factor I think is I'll spare the
50:46
Speaker 4: obvious one because mine was going to be a guy
50:48
Speaker 4: like Josh Norris, but I do think a guy like
50:57
Speaker 4: I can't believe I'm actually staying us. I do think
51:00
Speaker 4: a guy like Logan Stanley and the NX factor. He
51:09
Speaker 4: has some playoff experience, and obviously ton I decide because
51:15
Speaker 4: tonight is meaningless, no matter if it was going to bat.
51:17
Speaker 4: But I really like Stanley, like the two or three
51:20
Speaker 4: games leading up to the season finale tonight, I think
51:23
Speaker 4: he's kind of finding his footing a little bit and
51:25
Speaker 4: playing the way he is, and just as good as
51:28
Speaker 4: Buffalo's top four is, I fully expect them to play
51:31
Speaker 4: thirty minutes a night like it's playoff time. It's time
51:33
Speaker 4: to ride your hot hand. But if Stanley can go
51:36
Speaker 4: out there and give you fifteen solid minutes, it's going
51:40
Speaker 4: to keep guys like Dolly in power by rohim and
51:42
Speaker 4: samis and that much fresher and making them that much
51:43
Speaker 4: more dangerous. So obviously, up front there's the obvious guys,
51:47
Speaker 4: but I think you know the third pair, specifically a
51:49
Speaker 4: guy like Stanley if he plays extremely well, which obviously
51:54
Speaker 4: remains to be seen. But I'd like him a lot lately,
51:57
Speaker 4: and I think he can ride that and he's gonna
51:59
Speaker 4: fit He's gonna fit this Bruins series nicely. They're gonna
52:02
Speaker 4: If the guy like Sudorov tries to do what he
52:04
Speaker 4: tries to do, Stanley can answer it. And obviously it's
52:07
Speaker 4: very hard to predict this stuff. But even though they
52:10
Speaker 4: lost that game against the Senators when Stanley beat up
52:13
Speaker 4: to Chuck k, Chuck wasn't the same for the rest
52:15
Speaker 4: of that game.
52:16
Speaker 3: And I think Stanley can bring that here.
52:18
Speaker 4: And if Stanley allows that to happen and freeze up
52:20
Speaker 4: the rest of this team, that kind of takes Boston's
52:23
Speaker 4: bite out of him. And I think Boston needs that,
52:26
Speaker 4: that chippiness and that grinded outness that we're gonna muck
52:30
Speaker 4: this series, and I think they need that to be effected.
52:32
Speaker 3: And you have a guy who can potentially negate that.
52:35
Speaker 4: It allows Buffalo to play the play their own game,
52:37
Speaker 4: and they're a tough team to be when they're playing
52:39
Speaker 4: their own game.
52:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he's an easy, big target, right, But
52:42
Speaker 1: at the same time, if he can sort of get
52:44
Speaker 1: in there and muck it up with some of those
52:46
Speaker 1: those guys on the Bruin side, we knows the Doorov's
52:48
Speaker 1: gonna try to assert himself, and he's another you know,
52:51
Speaker 1: former Savers first round pick that they're gonna go against
52:53
Speaker 1: in this in this playoff series of the long list
52:55
Speaker 1: of drafted players that.
52:57
Speaker 2: Finally got Buffalo to this moment.
52:59
Speaker 1: But yeah, this is going to be an exciting series
53:02
Speaker 1: between two Atlantic Division rivals. And would you want to
53:05
Speaker 1: have it any other way? Maybe maybe the Toronto Maple Leafs,
53:08
Speaker 1: but I can't think of another team that I want
53:09
Speaker 1: to start off a fourteen year playoff throughout it then
53:12
Speaker 1: with your rival Boston Bruins if you're the Sabers.
53:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I'm ready.
53:16
Speaker 4: I'm ready for Sabers Bruins to be back because it
53:21
Speaker 4: was a lot of fun hating them in the early
53:23
Speaker 4: two thousands and it feels it feels.
53:25
Speaker 2: Right, absolutely so Austin.
53:28
Speaker 1: Any final thoughts as we wrap it up, it's gonna
53:30
Speaker 1: be an exciting one. Next time we'll talk, it's gonna
53:32
Speaker 1: be sometime in the middle of the series, but it's
53:34
Speaker 1: gonna be fun. Key Banks Center and downtown Buffalo is
53:37
Speaker 1: gonna be rocking come Saturday, Sunday whenever it is. But
53:40
Speaker 1: it's gonna be exciting times and hopefully we'll be having
53:43
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about on this show for a
53:45
Speaker 1: deep playoff run here for the fans.
53:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, absolutely, and you know, to everyone who's going
53:50
Speaker 4: to the game or going to Canalside, enjoy it. It's
53:52
Speaker 4: been a long time and I don't know exactly when,
53:56
Speaker 4: but I also plan on making a trip over to
53:58
Speaker 4: downtown Buffalo.
53:59
Speaker 1: So there you go. Maybe you can you can get
54:02
Speaker 1: an autograph session with Austin Brod. But with that said,
54:05
Speaker 1: that's gonna wrap it up for tonight's Saber Semantics episode
54:09
Speaker 1: here live from Key Banks Center following the Sabers four
54:12
Speaker 1: three shootout loss to the Dallas Stars finishing off their
54:15
Speaker 1: regular season, but also our playoff preview as they look
54:18
Speaker 1: ahead to the Boston Bruins here as the Atlantic Division champions.
54:22
Speaker 1: As always, Global pet Foods and their three Great Nagaregian
54:25
Speaker 1: locations and Niagara Falls, Fon Hill and Scratt Scott Street
54:28
Speaker 1: are the show sponsor of Sabers Semantics. Thank you everybody
54:31
Speaker 1: tuned in live tonight on the YouTube version, make sure
54:34
Speaker 1: to hit like It subscribed smash that bell if you
54:36
Speaker 1: enjoyed this live coverage, and those who listened the next
54:38
Speaker 1: day on your favorite on demand audio podcast platform, Thank you.
54:41
Speaker 2: Very much for doing so. As well.
54:42
Speaker 1: Make sure to us to follow on exit Saber Semantics
54:44
Speaker 1: the update with all of our Sabers coverage as almsos
54:46
Speaker 1: on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok by searching the arm Chair
54:49
Speaker 1: GM Sports Network. So for Austin broad my name is
54:52
Speaker 1: brandeck Puto. You enjoy the first two games of the
54:55
Speaker 1: Buffalo Sabers first playoff appearance in fourteen seasons. We'll talk
54:58
Speaker 1: to you guys again very soon here on Saber Semantics.
55:01
Speaker 2: Talk to you later. You're listening to the Armchair GM
55:20
Speaker 2: Sports Network.