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Lightning Dominate Bruins 3-1! ⚡ Sabres & Senators Preview + Dyngus Day Fun · Backchecking the Bolts

• Jason Linkes: Coming up next on back checking the bolts. What is Dengus day? it's some sort of festival celebrating the end of Lent and Easter and all that stuff. It's the first Monday after Easter and it's apparently quite a wild party up in Buffalo. So I have feeling the crowd is going to be super into this game, even though it's a Monday night affair. The same word. Dengus day to you. The Stabers are selling the beer swords, so there's gonna be people drinking out of swords at the game. I think it's gonna be a really festive atmosphere out there. If nothing else, it's gonna be an entertaining game. Welcome to Back Checking the Bolts. Back Checking the Bolts is your cup of coffee to get you the latest on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Join host Jason Linkus and the managing editor of Raw Charge, Justin Godfrey, as they break down the Lightning's most recent games and go beyond the highlights, telling you what the box scores didn't. It's time to drop the puck. Hey everybody. Welcome to back checking the bolts. are back for the Martin St. Louis, Chris La Puma, Jay Wells episode. That means it's episode number 26. I'm Jason Linkus as always. I'm joined by the managing editor of raw charge. He is Justin Godfrey. You can see him at www.rawcharge.com and Justin, the bolts faced a tough task with the Boston Bruins. The Bruins are on a four game road trip and It wasn't pretty the first two periods, but once again, it seems to be the mantra of the lightning this year. They always seem to find a way to get the W. I think, ⁓ coach Cooper referred to him as stale through the first two periods. ⁓ he went in and shuffled up some lines. They just found a way to save their best hockey for the third period, which is something they've been doing of late. So you get the big goals, you know, just do ties up fairly early. Radish sets the record, ⁓ gives them the go ahead goal with about three or four minutes to go. And then, you know, Kucherov with an empty net goal. Vasilevsky shuts the door. The defense shuts the door in a third period. They allowed under five shots, which seems to be a broken record with them right now is them just absolutely limiting the defense, you know, the opponent's offensive skills towards the end of the games. If you needed to put a highlight one game as to describe the lightning season this year, I feel like this one, you know, Boston, the win against Boston was probably one of them. The only thing that didn't happen is nobody got hurt. So, you know, that's a good thing. So they didn't play their best game, but they found a way to win, picked up the two points, put themselves back in first place, put themselves in a really good spot. You know, as we head down to this final, you know, 10 days last five games or so of the season. So yeah, really like what they did play a little bit better to begin with, but finish strong. I'd always rather finish strong than, you know, kind of fade at the end. Justin, you had mentioned coach Cooper made some line changes. What were some of those changes that he made during the game? Just kind of mix it up, you know, he's there, we're going to, I don't think he's ever going to really mess with the Gord line, but kind of shuffled the top deck a little bit. think Corey Perry got some, some ice time up with that top line. Just, you know, open things up. They're still missing Brandon Hagel. So it's not the ideal top six right now for him. And sometimes I think you just need to boost things up. He's put Kutcher off back with Brayden point to kind of get a point out of his little. Quiet goal struggles, know, point only has two goals in his last 12 games or so. So they put Kutra off back with him before the game, uh, kind of try to kickstart him there. So yeah, it's just one of those little in game things. It's, don't think it's going be anything permanent. I don't think we're in the dawn of the Corey Perry first line era, but every once in just shake it up in a game, get some different looks out there and go from there. And it seemed to work even though two of the goals came from defensemen, but that's the lightening strategy right there. Well, Corey Perry reminds me a little bit of Gary Roberts near the end of his career. He's a guy that played a lot of fourth line minutes, but depending on where he was playing, you could actually move him up into a primary scoring role for a short period of time. You're not going to want to play Corey Perry 20 minutes a night game in and game out, but he still has that skill. There aren't many guys who have the numbers that he has, and it's nice to have that flexibility in a pinch. You can throw him up on the top line. and not miss a whole lot. Yeah. He's never really going to hurt you out there. mean, like the base drawback you see about Corey Perry is the fact he just literally, you know, almost literally can't skate anymore. I believe at one point this season, he was the slowest skater in the NHL, but with his skillset, that's not something that's really a big detriment to his game. He's a guy, he's going to get to the front of the net. He's going to annoy you. He's going to cross check. He's a slash in the back of the lanes while he's out there. He's going to find his spot in the, you know, in the crease and you know, score a goal here or there or set up a play here or there. Uh, his puck retrieval around the net is really good. That's something that's a little underrated, I think, and people don't notice a lot, but he's, he's one these guys who could dig out loose pucks around the net and set up teammates. So he's been on the second power play unit too, with the Lightning when he came over. So he's helped that up, that unit up. So he has that kind of veteran sense of where to be and when to be somewhere that is really effective in the playoffs. He had that great playoff run last year with Edmonton. And I think that's kind what the Lightning are looking for from him. So yeah, most of the game he can sit down on that fourth line. You can manage his minutes, but in the big games, you can break him up. think he's been, when they've pulled either Vasileski or they've made that extra skater. think he's been a six guy out there lately, which kind of shows what Cooper thinks of his ability when the lightning have an advantage of it. Just his ability to get down to the net and cause a little rockets down there. didn't realize they had an award for the NHL slowest skater. ready for that at the NHL awards banquet. could just see. And here's the nominees for NHL's slowest skater followed by the MVP vote. Exactly. Yeah. think it's part of that new edge. There's new edge stats where it's kind of funny because if you, if you go to the main website itself and you're looking at it, it won't rank the slower skaters. It'll basically just say that they're in the lower 50%, lower 50 percentile of the rest of the league. But yeah, I'd heard it. think one of the, one of the broadcasts had mentioned that. He had been pegged as one of the slowest, if not the slowest skater in the league this year, but hey, you know, it's Cork Herring. He's not here to race up and down the ice. know, he's there, like I said, to slash in the back of the lane to give you that extra shove in a scrum, dig out a puck here and there and, you know, poke it home for the goal. So, get punched in the face every once in while. have to wonder with a veteran like that, just having another presence like that in the locker room, how valuable that is for John Cooper to have. It's nice to have that other veteran when times are tough, you're in a tough playoff series, someone that you can go to who's been through the wars many, many times and just be that voice of reason in the locker room. Um, you know, that was part of the reason they brought him back. They did mention that after the press conference, um, he's also a known commodity. mean, you know what you're getting with Corey Perry. Uh, a lot of times when you make these trade deadline deals, you're going after people that haven't played in your system. Um, that have thrived under different systems. So you don't always know how they're going to mesh in. mean, when you get Corey Perry, you know exactly what he's going to get. Played with lightning before he's had success with them before. And he is, he does bring that veteran leadership. Not that the lightning are lacking in that. mean, if you look at their roster, they have plenty of voices in there already, but sometimes it is maybe somebody who stepped away for a while and come back has a new perspective on things. So he saw what worked in Edmonton. He saw what worked in Tampa. He saw what worked in Dallas. So he's got the experience. And definitely, you know, cool heads out there when things get rough. It's never a thing to have. milestone that was hit in the Bruins game was Darren Radish. Darren Radish set the Lightning single season record for goals by a defenseman with 21. Coming into the season, he had only had 13 in two and a half seasons, let's call it. I know he had a cup of coffee with the Bolts in 22 and 23. But he really became a regular in the 23, 24 campaign. One, we talked to numerous times at Radish is a free agent, but does this rank in the top five of all time lightning defenseman in terms of performances in a season? ⁓ easily. ⁓ I think you got a headman up there for a few years. got Dan Boyle's, ⁓ 20 bill season as well. And just his general play. But yeah, I mean, as far as the individual seasons for defensemen, you're probably looking top three or top four. Who knows where it's going be when it's all said and done. He just keeps finding ways to score. He did have a little slump kind of coming out of the Olympics with the rest of the team. Uh, wasn't quite getting a shot on that, you know, kind of needed that radar recalibrated a little bit. And, but you know, over the last three or four games, he's kind of found that shot again. He's been putting it back on that. And even the goal he scored against Boston, like he admitted he wasn't technically shooting the score. He's like, they asked him like, what did you see on, on your goal? He's like, I didn't see anything, man. Here's the only thing I knew was that Kuturov was in the middle of the ice. I figured I'd throw it on that and see if he can get a rebound. You know, it just, Swinman kind of misplayed it a little bit and it went in. So when you're hot, you're lucky sometimes and that's just throw the puck on that and good things happen. Well, with the wind, the lightning move into sole possession of first place with 102 points right now. Let's give a quick update of the standings. have the lightning with 102 points, the Buffalo Sabres who they're going to be playing tonight. They have a hundred points. sit in second. are in a tie with Montreal also with a hundred points over in the Metro. have the Carolina Hurricanes. They have clinched a playoff spot as well. They have a hundred and four points. The Pittsburgh Penguins are in second with 96. The Philadelphia Flyers suddenly have moved into a playoff spot. The Bruins after losing to Tampa, they lost last night to the Philadelphia Flyers two to one in overtime. They have 90 points. The wild card spots. have those same Bruins with 95 Ottawa with the victory last night against Carolina. They have 90. And then there is a log jam of teams on the outside looking in the Islanders with 89 points. We're going to talk about the Islander news here in a second, the Detroit red wings, Columbus blue jackets with 88, the Washington capitals with 87. Justin, we have about a week and a half left of the season. Who do you think grabs those final playoff spots? The spots that are out there up for grabs in the Metro third place, because the Flyers only have 90 points. They have a one point lead over the Islanders. And then you have that second wild card spot. Let's say Boston's in with 95, Ottawa right now with the tenuous one point lead on that second wild card spot. Is it going to be Philly and Ottawa in your opinion? I think it comes down to Philly, Ottawa and the Islanders really feel like Detroit out of all of those teams that are still fighting for it. Detroit's kind of shot themselves in the foot the most. You know, they had a pretty good grip on a playoff spot a little, you know, about two weeks ago and then they've just kind of gone into a little bit of a nose dive here. And I think Columbus just kind of ran out of gas. So while they're not technically out of it, I think they're kind of on the back foot a little bit. You know, Philly, I'll give you credit. You called it a couple of weeks ago, you know, this Philly team. kind of surprising a lot of folks just by the fact that they just keep finding ways to win. They bumped themselves up to that third spot. Ottawa, you look at Ottawa and you just wonder how long they can do it. I was going to save this for the little preview we're going to talk about it, but they just lost another defenseman. I think Tyler Clevelin is out till the end of the season now. So you just kind of wonder when that's going to start catching up to them. They did get Jake Sanderson back, but you you still have Shabbat out. You start taking these big blows on defense. It's going to catch up to you eventually. Yeah, I like, I like the flyers. The Islanders. Get that new coach bump and slide in next up, but we'll see. You know, I don't think anybody really has a super easy schedule down the stretch. We were kind of, I was kind of jotting that down before. And he looked at the Islanders. got Toronto and Ottawa. Then they finished with Montreal and Carolina. you know, they might luck into Carolina and not having anything to play for that last game. So sneaking in a win like that, but Columbus. It's got Detroit, Buffalo, Montreal, Boston, or Washington. And that's a pretty rough schedule to finish off. Cause you got everybody that's pretty much in a playoff spot or still fighting, you know, you can say Washington still in it. you know, they're on the fringes, but they've been playing hockey. They would have really helped their position if they didn't get blown out by the Rangers eight to one last night. Exactly. Yeah. What happened there? Hey hockey man. ⁓ it's kind of funny like the Rangers and the, and the, ⁓ Panthers have really been kind of thrown a muck out, you know, muck and wrench into some of these teams on the periphery. mean, Florida has beaten two or three teams recently that you would think they would lose to. But, uh, yeah, so it's going to be a rough stretch finish for, for Columbus Ottawa. Let's say they had to be lightning in the Panthers Islanders and devils on a back to back and then finished with the Leafs. There's a couple of wins in there. Right. Um, Detroit Toronto is going to be gearing up for Ottawa. Yeah. Yeah. Even if, you know, even if Toronto, yeah. They still have pride in that battle of Ontario. So, you know, Detroit's got Columbus, they got the Flyers. So I think their next two games are probably going to be the two big ones for Detroit. And then they got the Devils, Lightning and Panthers to finish with. yeah, it's ⁓ Flyers are the Devils, Detroit's Winnipeg, Carolina and Montreal with the Carolina Montreal games being back to back. again, you know, there's some, some tough finishes to the schedule here, but Most of them are playing East coast games. A lot of them are playing conference games. So there could still be a lot of movement movement over the next 10 days. And I do think it's going to come down to the last two or three days of the season. Justin, before we take a look ahead and preview the lightning games against Buffalo and Ottawa, there were some NHL news and you had mentioned it briefly there. The New York Islanders decided to fire head coach Patrick Waugh. Now it's almost becoming laughable. In the NHL that you fire your coach and you're expecting that quick little bump to win three or four games. Even though I sort of say that Vegas fires Bruce Cassidy and John Tortorella comes in and wins three in a row immediately. Now the Vegas golden Knights are only a point out of first place. Patrick was replaced by Pete the boar. What was your initial thought when you heard about this? I I'm I'm still sort of speechless on this. I thought the Islanders were an overachieving team all year. I thought that yes, they faded down the stretch, part of that is just because of their youth. I didn't think this team was ready for the playoffs. thought WOD did a pretty good job this season, but they had, they apparently had been talking to Boer long enough to where they had a contract in place because he's the coach for the foreseeable future. He has a longer term deal with the Islanders coming up. What was your thoughts? Yeah, that's the part that kind of surprised me. Um, cause it sounds like it's the rumors are like it's through the 20, 29 seasons. that mean that's, that's a decent, um, Decent salary or a decent contract to sign coming out of what is most people are thinking is pretty surprised, uh, You always wonder what things like this, if it just maybe, you know, Matthew Darcy and Patrick Watt just don't get along. You I was not Darcy's guy. So Lula Amarillo hired. One 2024, Darce takes over in 2025 and GM's like their guys, know, they kind of in situations like this, they'll yes. Okay. He's the head coach. He signed long-term. think was still has two years left on his deal after this year. ⁓ but they still kind of want their guy and I don't know if to bore and Darce or friends, how they know each other or whatever, but yeah, for him to come in and offer him a multi-year deal right away. You just kind of wonder if this is something that's been brewing. There's, there's something Darce doesn't like about the way the team was playing that maybe it was covered up by the way Sorokin was playing. A lot of times you get these goalies that are hot and they cover up a lot of mistakes for a team. So that could be something that, you know, once there was a little, little pressure and things kind of backslid a little bit, you Darce had his opportunity. Patrick Law is a fiery guy. Maybe they had a meeting that didn't go so well. You never know how these things end up. But, so it's kind of a surprising move this late in the season with the team. borderline, technically in the playoffs. mean, they're in a playoff spot, right? No, no, they're just one point out. But when it happened, I think they were still in the playoff spot. But it was also kind of odd that they had a four day break this point of the season. mean, I was looking at the schedule. was like, wow, that must be pretty nice to have a nice long break with a 10 day, know, 10 days of the schedule. We'll see how it happens. You know, does the team react to it? Do they fall apart? Did WAL lose the locker room? You know, that could be another thing. So. Sure. At some point we'll hear the stories as to why Patrick Waa, Hall of Famer, talked his way out of another, another job in the NHL, but those are the days to come. Now it's just about winning two or three of their next games and getting into the playoffs and then see if they can cause havoc from there. I'm just going to throw the business component out there. You always hear for NHL teams that getting the playoff money is huge because you don't have to share it with other teams, unlike the national TV contracts. The playoff money is all yours. And they always say that in order for a lot of these teams to make a profit, you have to make the playoffs. Could this be the Islanders way of just saying, this is the bump possibly we need just to creep into the playoffs. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know, but I think it's something that you can't discount though, because, Hey, these owners want to make money and they have every right to do so. But I just still wonder, you hurting your long-term development because Patrick while I had this team playing above expectation, but Justin, I I'm looking over Pete the Boar's resume and it is pretty impressive. 662 career wins. He's won three division titles in his last six years. He took the Dallas stars to three consecutive conference finals. If you're going to get a replacement, even though I think the Boar might his act may wear thin with certain teams. And I think it has in the past. This is still a pretty good hire to bring in. You're not bringing in someone who's just happens to be an assistant. She just depends on what your goals are. Maybe you think this is the right team for the poor. It was a really messy exit in Dallas with him pulling out and Jerry got during that last playoff game after giving up two goals on two shots. And then just the hell was handled from that point out. So maybe D'Bor learns from that, you know, maybe becomes less of a hard coach on the players. That's kind of been his reputation is he can be a bit hard on his players. Sometimes throw them under the bus. Maybe that was the experience he needed is to kind of change his ways a little bit and, know, he'll coach a little differently, but he's had the success. Like he said, I mean, if you look at his resume, he's, he was probably the best guy out there with experience. Nobody likes to recycle coaches like the NHL likes to recycle coaches. He was always going to get a job somewhere. ⁓ Could be a good fit for him. He's got a good solid base down there. He's got the comfort of a multi-year deal. So if he doesn't make the playoffs, it's not going to be a, thanks for your five games of service, go back home. So yeah, he's going to be able to build something. Darsh has a guy that he picked himself. So there'll be some cohesion there moving forward. We'll see how they, they work with the younger players coming in with the master Shaffers. ⁓ and see if they can make this long-term success as opposed to just a. A one and done, and then they're looking for a coach again, you know, kind of something that may be going on in Vegas this summer, depending on how towards, you know, finish this things out over there. Okay. Justin, quick little quiz time for you. Pete the boar with the Islanders. That will be his sixth team. Name the other five teams he coached for. ⁓ so we got Dallas. Correct. We got three seasons there at Vegas three seasons before that, ⁓ Florida. Yes, that's the one that I think is forgotten. That was his first stint from 2008 to 2011. San Jose. San Jose took the sharks to the Stanley cup finals in 2016 lost to the penguins. This is one that I always forget. Where else was he? East coast or West coast to East coast. It was four seasons. Now he never finished higher than fourth in the standings, but he took this team on sort of a miraculous run to the Stanley cup finals in 2012. Oh, that's not going to help me whatsoever. Um, played Los Angeles lost in six games. Devils the Devils. Okay. I had a feeling it was one of those New Jersey, New York teams, but welcome for him. You know, what's that three different teams he's made the conference finals for. Um, three different teams. He's made the finals to two teams, two different teams in the Stanley cup. The surprising thing is it wasn't until he had coached over 10 years that he won his first division title. He won two division titles with Vegas, one, one with the Dallas stars. Division titles are kind of hard to win. I do have it one one in a while. So it's, know, it's, it's not the easiest thing. It's easier to win in the playoffs. think that it is to win a division title these days. So well, Pete, the board would agree. Yeah, exactly. Make a good money doing it. Well, Justin, let's take a look ahead. The lightning head up to Buffalo. They begin a four game road trip. They play at Buffalo tonight at Ottawa on Tuesday. At Montreal on Thursday and conclude the road trip with an afternoon tilt with the Boston Bruins on Saturday. The Sabres are coming off of a six, two loss. They've lost five, a seven, even though they got points in two of those losses. Buffalo was red hot for ever really since this streak started in December. I think it was December the eighth. They had had more wins in any other NHL team. I don't want to say they're coming back to earth a little bit, but they are. It's hard to stay that hot forever. They now have lost Sam Carrick. got into a fight with an on with Anders Lee and a four three win against the Islanders last week. He's out for the foreseeable future. They're saying he could be back for the playoffs. Tell me a little bit about what you think about Buffalo coming into this game. What matchups do you like and who are you a little scared about? Ah, I mean, it's always going to be that Tage Thompson line. that that's going to give the lightning trouble. But, ⁓ yeah, carrots out. And like you said, it was, this was a bound to happen. Things are going to catch up to him. It's not the end of the world for, for Buffalo to lose a couple of games right now. Kind of get a little reset going on, get back to doing what they were doing this to be successful. ⁓ we saw the lightning go through it coming out of the break. They've kind of put their game back together. It's gonna be the matchup. It's gonna be interesting how the lightning handle this one. thought the last time they played in that, that wild eight to seven loss for the lightning really felt like the, lightning. I don't want to say they didn't care who won the game, but they were kind of more or less trying to send a message that, you know, you guys are the, the flashing new kids on the block, but this is how playoff hockey is going to be. And the lighting were really forceful in that game. They're really physical. I they were trying to push. the Sabres and see how they reacted to Pufflo's credit. They took advantage of the power plays and beat them pretty, you know, beat them in a pretty entertaining game. So I the Lightning would be a little bit more disciplined tonight. It could be a little more focused on defense. I don't think it's going to be a wild game. Even though we've seen that the last couple of times these two teams have met, I it's going be a little bit more low scoring game. The Lightning kind of fixed their defense a little bit of late. You know, they're still kind of banged up a little bit with Hagel being a game time decision. So I think we're going to see a little bit more disciplined game. would say a little bit more tight to the fest, probably a hard checking game, but not a, not an overly offensive one. So that's what I'm kind of looking forward to tonight. We're see how the goaltending does. Can the lightning get some sustained pressure in the Buffalo zone? Can they keep them out of their zone? So we're going to, going to have a fun little, fun little matchup tonight, but I don't have a interesting vibe. Cause if I'm not mistaken. You know, I don't know how many people celebrate this day, but it is Dingo's day in America, which I to look up. it's some sort of festival celebrating the end of Lent and Easter and all that stuff. It's the first Monday after Easter and it's apparently quite a wild party up in Buffalo. So I have feeling the crowd is going to be super into this game, even though it's a Monday night affair. The Sabre. Happy Dingo's day to you. The Stabers are selling the beer swords. So there's going to be people drinking out of swords at the game. I think it's going be a really festive atmosphere out there. ⁓ so if nothing else, it's going to be an entertaining game. ⁓ but I do think it's going be a little bit more of a tight checking game. Both teams, you know, you're in that stretch where you want to focus on being right for the playoffs. That's the light they've been preaching the last couple of days. You see what to get their style into, playoff mode. So even on dingus day, yes, they're going to have to figure out a way. to, ⁓ to focus. so yeah, that's kind what looking at tonight. I can just see the commercials. I think it's what 96 rock up in Buffalo. Come see the Sabres on Dengus day and get your beer. That's right. It's a beef on Wekin. Dengus day festivities. ⁓ man. So it's the cat, the world's capital of Dengus day in Buffalo. It's the annual post-Lenten bash. which attracts tens of thousands to Buffalo, New York to celebrate spring show Polish pride flirt. is, ⁓ something and listen to the best poker bands in the nation. So there you go. That's what thing is today is going to be all about. They, the accordions are going to be out. The poker is going to be playing. It's going to be a fun day up in Buffalo. It's spring, man. Hey, hard winter spring in Buffalo. It's actually a little bit cold. were 85 degrees on Saturday. I was outside. We had to put our air condition on for the first time. And yesterday, yeah, yesterday was probably about 45 degrees and windy. It's not going to be much warmer today. So it'll be a cold dingus day up there in Western New York. All dingus days are good dingus days, So, but Hey, there's a parade. There's polka. What more could you want? There's there's Sabres hockey. They're in the playoffs. You know, it's a good time to be a Sabres fan. should we, Hey I didn't want to talk about the previous matchups real quick. The lightning won the game on February 3rd and overtime against Buffalo, but they've dropped the last two. The game on February the 28th was a pretty resounding six to Buffalo victory. What in the Sabres game has given the lightning trouble? Is it speed? Is it transition? What has given them trouble? It's been pretty much the speed in the four check, even in that eight to seven loss as well. know, the Sabres were able to get in and create those turnovers, give the Lightning fits on their breakouts. So that's kind of been a bit an issue when these two teams have matched up. That's why that, know, that Tage Thompson line, Tage coming in and playing with speed. He's got the size up there as well. The Lightning really have to focus on, on getting the puck out clean. That being said, you know, in that eight to seven game, they were able to kind of counter a little bit. catch the Sabres out, you know, if the Sabres are caught down low, Lightning would be able to get their transition game going, but they have to be able to get that puck out of. Out of the zone and that, and just stay out of the penalty box. I Buffalo scored like three or four power play goals last time they matched up. So stay out of the penalty box. Don't do anything stupid. Clear the puck. I thought something we've been seeing a lot more of the Lightning lately is their ability to get the puck out of danger or. If they do get stuck in their ability to recover from it, there was a play a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't the Buffalo game was the third, the Boston game was the one before it, but Mitchell Chagufy is his first game and tries to clear puck up, you know, tries to flip it out on his backhand. It doesn't work. He scuffs it goes right to the defenseman. I think it was a Pittsburgh game actually. So, but what Chagufy does instead of like tugging his shoulders or hanging his head a little bit, he goes back out. He blocks a shot that comes off of that chance. Um, so that kind of recovery is what we're seeing more from the Lightning. If they do make a mistake. They are able to recover from it and prevent it from becoming a goal. So if they can do that against Buffalo, you know, you're going to make mistakes. No one's perfect in the NHL. So if you make your mistakes, ⁓ just recover from them, keep them from becoming dangerous chances or goals and they'll be all right. So I think that's going to be the, the message that's preached in the club in the locker room today is. Hey, focus on taking care of the little things, get the puck out of the zone and that the offense build off of that. after the Buffalo game, they traveled. The next night they're going to play the Ottawa Senators. The Senators are coming off of a 6-3 victory against Carolina. That vaulted them into that second wild card spot as we had mentioned earlier, but previously that they had lost four out of five. What scares you about the Sens and what matchups do you like against Ottawa? Now know you had mentioned Ottawa lost another defenseman. You think the Lightning wanted probably just get that puck down deep and really bang them into submission. Yeah, this is going to be one of those games where the Gord line is going to be really important. You know, a line that can get out there, get that forecheck go in, cause a lot of problems, set it up for the top two lines that they can, they can get their offensive rolling. The one thing about Ottawa is, know, I kind of questioned their depth a little bit. They have the really great top line, but I think the Lightning kind of match up pretty well against them when you get to the third and fourth lines. So that's kind of what I'm going to be looking for. The Lightning can neutralize that Tim Stutsel line. They should have a. ⁓ a fairly decent chance in regards to be able to take advantage of the other three lines out there. Justin, the senators are going to be waiting for the lightning. They don't play on Monday night. They're going to be a little bit more arrested. Meanwhile, it's the back to back. So once again, we're probably going to see Johansson and net, correct? I Cooper's going to keep going with his rotation. You you he's probably got this start and maybe the Rangers start at end of the season left on his, Things to do list for the season. So I expect to see him come in and play against Ottawa. be his first time against them this year. He's coming off that really good game his last time out against Nashville, where he made 29 and 31 stops. He played pretty well against Calgary as well as a four, three overtime loss. But, ⁓ after kind of a rough first period, he really shut the door. So his last six periods or so have been pretty good hockey, ⁓ for a guy who doesn't get into the net very much. He'll give them a shot. I think he'll, he'll stop the stop the shots. needs to probably give up two or three goals. It's just what don't show him. So it does, you know, if he plays well, but he's still going to go up probably three goals. So the line, you're going to have to their offense going, but he's going to give him a shot to win. And that's all you can ask him from your backup goaltender, especially on a back to back. Justin rapid fire. have a four game road trip, Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, which game do you see as a win? Which game do you see as the toughest game on the trip? ⁓ I, even if Buffalo is struggling, I still think that's the toughest game on the trip. ⁓ as far as wins, like the Boston matchup. I think Boston, just, the Lightning matchup well against that Boston team. saw it last weekend. Boston's a good team, but they're not a super dynamic team. They're not a super fast team. They, their style that they play kind of fits into what, what the Lightning defend against well. So I think the Lightning will have a good chance against them. Montreal game is going to be a, you know, a coin toss bottle is going to be a coin toss. Actually, these are all coin tosses in my opinion. Cooper's strategy is always get more points than games played on the road. So if they can pick up a couple of wins, they pick up two wins and maybe an overtime loss or an overtime shootout loss, something like that. And that'll be an okay road trip. I don't think they have to sweep the road trip. Cooper doesn't care if they finish in first or third right now, honestly, they're going to, they're going to be in the playoffs. That's all that matters. And. with the way they played on the road this year, even if they don't have a home ice advantage in the first round, say they fall to the third spot, they're going to be okay. So just stay healthy, win a couple of games, finish the season off, just play well. That's all you want. So it was just play decent hockey. had a day off yesterday. What's going on at raw charges back to recap and more games, huh? Yeah. Well, we'll, we'll turn the smartphone off. I'll turn the keyboard on and ⁓ finish up the Buffalo preview. ⁓ My soul work on the auto a preview of all mad at since the back to back. I'll throw a recap in and then see if there's anything else. ⁓ Any other news breaking that we can report on it just to have a good time. will be dropping our next podcast on Wednesday, probably around noon time. We're going to recap the back to back Buffalo and auto, and we will preview the Montreal game. You can catch all of Justin's writings at rawcharge.com www.rawcharge.com for Justin Godfrey. I'm Jason Lakers. Thanks for joining us today. Please hit that like and subscribe button. Thank you for all your support. Look forward to seeing you on Wednesday. Have a great day and go bolts. Go bolts. Thank you for listening to back checking the bolts. We are free and available on all platforms, including Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon, YouTube, and Deezer. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. You can follow Justin on bluesky at rawcharge.com. You can follow the show on X at Tampa underscore bolts underscore pod and on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube at back checking the bolts. If you're interested in advertising on the show or partnering with us, you can find more information in the show notes or email Jason at back checking the bolts at yahoo.com.