03-17 Sabres-Golden Knights Postgame Show with Brian Koziol

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The radio whom of the Buffalo Sabers.

This is the Buffalo Sabers post game show

from our flagship station in Buffalo.

Here's your host, Brian Cozio.

Sabers moving the puck quickly here taped to tape.

That's helping them get it into the Vegas zone.

Here's Hill turning it over scores.

Aiden Hill cops it up and the Sabers jump on the loose puck.

And don't seem to get the goal here to put Buffalo up one

nothing on the road in Vegas.

Josh Dome late first period back at 1802.

He's able to grab the puck after Hill turned it over behind the net.

Banking it in off him.

That put the Sabers up one to nothing.

That was all they would need.

They added an empty netter from Josh Norris to make it to nothing.

But Dome's goal back in the first tonight is our goal of the game.

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Get in the game at roswellpark.org slash WGR as we welcome you in here

to the post game show Brian Colziel with you.

Thanks for staying up late with us here.

If you're listening in the Buffalo areas.

It's obviously almost 1 a.m.

But we're going to hear from the winning players coming up.

In just one moment, I'm sure they're excited.

A really, really strong performance from Uco Peca-Lukinen.

First shot out of the season.

His eighth career shut out.

And the Sabers now not only still sit in first place in the Atlantic

with 90 points, but they are now tied with the Carolina Hurricanes

for first place overall in the Eastern Conference.

Amazing. December 9th.

They're in dead last.

Flip it to March 18th.

And they're tied for first in the entire Eastern Conference.

Pretty wild.

The numbers that they continue to put up impressive 10 and one

after the Olympic break.

Lukinen just continues to put up win after win after win.

He's playing very well.

How about this road stat in their last 11 games?

10, 0 and 1 on the road.

That's the best streak they've had in an 11 game span

in their franchise history.

So they continue to play well on the road.

And they continue to hold on to third period leads.

Another third period lead that they convert tonight.

And the Sabers add that empty net or late.

And Lukinen, the star of this one for sure.

The biggest moment of the third maybe was the McNabb hit on Benson

with 10, 59 left.

It's called a major.

And that's probably what the officials should do there.

It looked like a major maybe in real time.

But hey, let's take a look at it.

Just make sure that's what they allows them to review it.

And then suddenly there's no penalty at all.

I mean, the interference that occurred on the play for sure,

Benson did not have the puck for at least two seconds afterwards.

So I mean, there should have been interference no doubt.

But it's a high hit up high.

And that's for a league that's supposed to care

about player safety shots to the head.

I just I can't see how that's not anything.

Beyond the fact that it's the definition of interference.

Beyond the fact that it's a hit at the head.

And right there, Osslin and Thompson jump in.

So no surprise that the Sabers have each other's backs

because that's been a storyline for this season.

But this league as always reminds you

that it's the worst officiated league in sports.

And everything, you know, oh, well, each team had two penalties.

We don't want to, you know, what,

don't want to make it any sort of worse for anything here.

I mean, whatever, you know, it worked out obviously

in Buffalo's favor.

But you don't want to have high shots at anyone.

And that was to me, a very, very disappointing moment

for the officials in this game.

Anyway, coming up here again, locker room interviews,

coming up, but the Sabers continue to play well

on the road, 11 straight games in which they have points,

10, 0 and 1.

Obviously, it's easy to say, don't play great

because he got the game winning goal.

But he was in on it later.

I mean, he came in on a partial breakaway second period,

almost scored.

He set up Norris early in the third, almost getting a goal.

And when he wins a battle in the corner,

strips the puck and then feeds Norris, that was maybe,

I don't know, they'd be their first shift of the third period.

So he was good, obviously, you know,

Luke and in tremendous throughout this game so far.

A little bit cute on two on ones and three on twos throughout the game.

I'd still like them to get the puck more to the net with more shots.

But I mean, again, being picky here because the Sabers still continuing

to five ways to win here, two to nothing tonight against Vegas.

They'll continue the West Coast trip Thursday night at 10 against San Jose.

All right, speaking of Josh Dohn, he's up live first in Vegas.

Here he is with Paul.

Well, Josh, a back and forth hockey game.

Both teams had some great chances.

Both teams maybe had a few breakdowns,

but you guys were able to prevail.

What helped you guys prevail?

Yeah, I think something that we've been working on all year

and something we've seen from our group is

learning to defend leads late in games.

And Tynx is an example of holding onto a lead from the first period on

and doing a good job of maintaining their opportunities against us.

Both goal tenders played well,

but Luke didn't just seem like he was dead on his game tonight.

Yeah, he was unbelievable for us.

When he plays like that, we can get anybody.

So that's the confidence we have as a group.

And he's been unbelievable for us all year.

And I think since the break, he's been incredible.

So we tip our cap to him on tonight and thank him for giving up nothing.

How are your goals, are you looking for the bag?

Or did you see a Nori out in front?

Yeah, it's just one where you got a little bit of both options where he's

getting back in his pulse.

Sometimes it's easy to throw it in there after feet and create a little bit of chaos.

But that's one where if he doesn't move, it's on a good angle to go in.

And if he does try to jump out of the way, Nori's coming down the middle.

So just put it into that area and hope for something good to happen.

Josh, we saw a lot of goals in some of the games last week.

And now we've seen a two-to-one game, a three-to-two game,

and you guys protecting a one-nothing lead through 40 minutes.

How much are you guys really starting to make the big address?

To what is probably going to be a lot of playoff like?

Yeah, we talked about earlier today that there's not going to be a game for

the rest of the way that's going to be probably that high scoring.

You look around the league and there's some greasy goals every night.

And those are the goals that are winning hockey games.

So we're just sticking to our game plan of making sure we get

boxing body to the net as cliche as it is.

And good things are happening right now.

But we've got to defend hard right now in this time of the year

with how many teams are in the mix still and fighting for playoff spots.

You can't take a night off.

Did you feel as a group maybe you guys passed up too many opportunities

on two-on-ones and things to shoot?

Yeah, I think we talk about that and it's getting shots on goal.

They make good defensive plays on a couple of those,

where if it gets through it's a goal.

And that's just sometimes how the game goes, where we're one pass away from

scoring.

But yeah, I think sometimes there are focal points should be a little bit more

towards shooting the puck on those opportunities.

How does the beat since the Olympic break?

What is the key here to win these games after the break out without missing beat?

Yeah, we talked as a group that heading into the break,

we want to be really good when we got back from whatever we were doing

and making sure we were ready to go because of how tight it's been this year.

So it's something that our coaching staff and our leadership

group made sure that we were all ready to go from day one.

We had a couple hard practices getting back into the groove with things

and prepared us well for the first couple of games out of the break.

Thank you, Josh Done.

Josh Done on the post game, Brian, back to you.

Thank you, Paul Done, his 22nd of the season.

That gave the Sabers the one nothing lead.

That's all they would need.

They had the Norris empty netter at 1902 in the third to make it a two-to-nothing victory

as the Sabers pick up now their 90th point of the season.

Through 68 games and, yes, still 14 games to go.

An opportunity to get well over 100 here.

And now, then not only their chase to try to win the Atlantic,

but their chase to maybe have the number one overall seed

in the Eastern Conference as they move into a tie tonight with Carolina,

the Hurricanes do have one less game played.

So officially in the standings, the point percentage edge will go to the Hurricanes.

But I mean, just amazing again to look at it here to see

how far they have come up the standings.

Montreal wins, Tampa wins.

So the two teams in the Atlantic, besides the Sabers,

all three of them end up winning tonight.

So yes, if you're thinking, can they get a little breathing room in the race for first?

No, Tampa wins, Montreal wins, they won it over time.

So Boston got a point too.

So the only good news on the out of town scoreboard tonight was the Carolina loss

in regulation to Columbus.

All right, send your tweets in.

We'll read a couple of those later on.

At Bryan, WGR on X, as we'll get connected with our fans a little bit later,

powered by Verizon, get to your local Verizon store today.

So San Jose's next on Thursday, and then Saturday in Los Angeles

against the Kings at four, and then Sunday in Anaheim against the Ducks.

That's an eight o'clock game.

Of course, we'll have all those for you right here on the Sabers Radio Network.

Tonight, the Sabers were without Alex Tuck.

We know he's definitely kind of an igniter to their offense,

to their defense, to their special teams, and they were able to handle it much better

than they did the other night against Washington.

Not that the offense maybe was still the same.

I mean, they scored one against Washington and lost.

They scored one tonight plus an empty to make two, but no Tuck tonight.

More on him in a moment.

Here's Uco, Peca Luchanan with Paul.

Uco does a go without saying you were really locked in tonight.

It looked like you just thought everything was a beach ball coming out.

You could save anything.

Yeah, I feel good.

I feel like after the break, I've been feeling good about my game,

but I think the biggest thing is like, it necessarily seemed like today,

but I think we played still well.

You know, it was kind of not our best, but I think we fought through it.

And I think our defense played solid today, even though there was a couple chances maybe here and there.

You make the saves, obviously, in the net, but what does it say about this club?

Basically, you guys protected a one goal lead for 40 minutes.

I think that's just the growth we kind of have had this season that comes with winning.

I feel like it's we've been throwing away so many games before in the similar situations,

where we kind of do something stupid.

And even personally, for me, just kind of finding the confidence,

kind of finding the calmness to play in these situations, you know,

has been kind of point of growth for me.

What about the calmness you guys continue to show on the road?

I mean, that's where another area where you guys in the past and recent seasons

had struggled and blue games and this season, you've been dynamite on the road as a group.

I think we just simplify.

You know, we were able to fight through those kind of sticky first periods,

where we sometimes have and we're not kind of even though there might be,

you know, we don't dig too deep of a hole for ourselves in the first part of the games.

And we were able to kind of just stick around.

So, you know, I feel like also it's a great group of guys.

We enjoy hanging out with each other.

So, on the road, we always kind of, you know,

you spend a lot of time with the other players.

So, I think it's, you know, something we can kind of get par from.

Could you hear the fans yelling, Lou, when we were making saves,

it seemed like at times it was a home game for you?

Yeah, yeah, I did. I love that.

You know, I appreciate all our fans.

It's always great to see them on the road.

And, you know, especially with games like this,

when we're kind of fighting on one goal late, it's a huge thing for us and for me personally.

Is there anything in your process that you feel like you're doing particularly well

since the break that's led to the success?

I don't think there's anything too special.

I think just kind of sticking with it, trusting yourself,

trusting the process, don't overreact anything.

It doesn't mean if it's bad or good.

You have to kind of battle through it.

And, you know, when the next day comes,

it doesn't matter what happened on the last one.

So, kind of just trying to be as even keyless we can,

you know, personally, as a team.

You and Alex have really thrived on the back and forth.

You each play a game back and forth.

Does that help you just to know, all right, you're playing this game,

you're playing this game, and you know you're going to be playing that game?

Yeah, I mean, of course, as a goalie,

you want to play as much as you can, as I did before,

but the rotation is nice.

You know, you kind of can plan your physically and mentally,

you can prepare on your own games.

You kind of know what the rotation will be on the road and home.

You know, Ellie and I are both, you know, unbelievable guys,

unbelievable goalies, so it's, you know,

easy to kind of learn something every day

and kind of keep yourself mentally sharp.

You know, a few times this season early on

where you were like five minutes from a shut out

and couldn't get it, is it pretty happy?

And you finally have that in the book, the one shut out.

Yeah, at the end, I was just trying to ring the puck out of the zone,

you know, just trying to get it out of there.

So, yeah, I mean, I think the shout out, it's always nice.

But always, it's a team thing.

I think it feels good, you know,

I think we fought hard, we blocked shots,

we blocked out well today.

So the shout out feels good personally,

but we always feel good to kind of see that our, you know,

defense work today.

Is this a game where you had to fight for your ice too?

Sometimes it seemed like you were on top of your crease

and you had to fight some of their guys,

but you were able to fight through it.

Yeah, but it wasn't, you know, I think crazy.

I feel like I kept, you know,

tracking and puck on the side all the time.

Yeah, I don't think it was kind of, as you said,

it was, I felt good.

I felt confident playing today.

So it's easy to kind of track the puck on those days.

You mentioned tracking the puck and trusting yourself.

It seemed like even on their good passing plays,

you were kind of like in your spots early.

Is that part of truck, like just trusting your reads?

I guess, do you feel like you're reading the game really well right now?

Yeah, it's, it's confidence is confidence playing deeper.

It's easier to read the game from the deeper.

It's, it's, I think, a lot of it.

It's just knowing where the open guys are.

And I think at the end there and on the par play,

there was a couple of times where I, you know,

made the right read and saw the open guys.

So in the end, it just about trusting your game, as I said.

So it's, I think it's nothing too crazy.

You made some saves on Jack, including the end,

but the guy that really struck me

is being super dangerous in this game was Marner.

I mean, how, what was it like dealing with him

the way he was dancing around at his own all night?

Yeah, he's really, of course, one of the better players in the league.

And he's so skillful at the puck.

He escaped so well.

So kind of just trying to, you know, I mean, I said it before,

but like not overreact, not overplayed those situations.

Have some backward momentum.

Don't get like kind of caught on an old man's land.

And you know, just trying to wait him out.

Thanks, you go.

Look, look, look, looking in on the post game.

Brian, back to you.

Luke, and it was excellent first shot out of the season.

Eighth of his career.

And Buffalo Sabers beat the Vegas Golden Knights

by a score of two to nothing.

Pretty easy choice of who the first star is tonight.

We'll get our three stars of the game

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Josh Done, star number three with a goal.

Aiden Hill and net good for Vegas.

See only that in one, star number two

and Uco Peca-Luca, and of course tonight with the shut out.

27 shots, 27 saves.

He was star number one.

Let's get some final stats in.

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Shots in the third were eight, six Vegas.

More stats coming up.

Here's Ross Mustalini live with Paul.

Ross Must, you guys, whether it was your goal tender

making great saves or just around your goal tender,

you're able to hold off the Knights

and hold a one goal lead for a long period of time.

How are you able to do it as a team?

Yeah, it wasn't our A game, but a huge game by Upe.

He kept us in the game, the whole game, and we created some,

but we have to really regroup here

and come out better next game for sure.

You talk about it, it's not your A game as a team,

but it was certainly Luke and Enzae game.

What makes him so unique and just so hot right now

in the last couple months here?

Swagger, I think that's most, and then he's just so calm,

and athletic and hardworking.

It's a lot of things coming into it,

but I'm so happy for him.

He really deserves this shot up.

I'm thrilled.

That's twice in a few weeks that Noah

who's still in steps in for a teammate after hit.

How cool is it to see everyone,

but especially a guy like that doing that for a team?

It's unbelievable.

He's an ultimate teammate.

He plays the right way.

He's a team first guy.

That's a guy every team wants on their team,

and he's doing an unbelievable job.

I'm so proud of him.

What was the explanation you got from the referee on that?

That he wasn't late enough.

Yeah, I mean, it is what it is.

They're trying to do their job and stuff happens out there.

It wasn't late enough.

I mean, how late does it have to be?

I don't know.

I don't make the rules.

You guys had some great scoring opportunities,

but was this another game where maybe you passed out

too many opportunities as a team on some two on ones?

The past didn't really even work.

It wasn't there.

Maybe a shot would have been better.

Yeah, for sure.

I think we don't really really have that,

the last touch right now, but it's going to come back.

It's just a matter of time.

It's so cool and great that we're

able to win when we're not having an area of game.

So it's going to happen.

You can't play great 82 games.

I know you heard all the Sabers fans in the crowd here,

but how cool is it have all of them cheering you on so far from home?

It's unreal.

It means so much.

They are of as big as part of this, as we are.

You mentioned that you guys could do better defensively,

but when you look since December,

I mean, you got to admit too, it's a team game too.

I mean, as defensemen and the forwards

as five men units, you guys have really cut down on turnovers

for the most part, a little few maybe the best week or so.

But for the most part, you guys have really cut it down.

And so isn't it hand in hand with the five men unit

and the goal tenders?

Yeah, I mean, it's a mix of everything.

I agree with you.

Likely, it has been more than usual.

When we have our A game, we work so hard.

That's how we create scoring opportunity.

We work harder than the other team.

And we just got to get back to that.

That's what we play our best.

Thanks, Rasmus.

Rasmus Dallin on the post game.

Brian, back to you.

All right, there's the Saber captain, Dallin.

You could tell he wanted to say more,

but decided not to when asked about the ref's explanation

for McNabb's hit on Benson.

That it wasn't, quote, wasn't late enough.

Yeah, that, yeah.

I'll kind of do what Dallin said there.

Another one that makes the rules there.

What is the rule?

Benson did not have possession of the puck

for a clear one, two seconds.

The puck was behind the net.

And then a high shot from McNabb.

Yeah, I don't get it.

Anyway, we know, first fun is it is to watch this team.

It's still in the NHL and the officiating is terrible for everybody.

So there's another example of it here.

Your daily, your nightly example for tonight.

All right, we were doing stats before we got to Dallin.

So let's continue with that.

Final shot totals.

They've added one to Lucanins totals.

So now he's got 28 saves in the shut out, 28 to 25.

Vegas in terms of the shots.

Both teams were over the night of the power play.

The Sabers were zero of two.

And the goal the nights were zero of three.

Lucanins gets the win, 28 shots, 28 saves,

Aiden Hill the loss, 24 shots.

He made 23 saves.

Buffalo's 25th shot went into the empty net.

As I mentioned earlier, no Alex Tuck due to illness.

So Tyson Kozak filled in, played 11-10.

Had a nice chance with a couple of minutes left.

More stats on him, but here's Lenny Ruff, live in Vegas with Paul.

Lenny Rasmus, he said there were some things in the game.

He didn't like, but overall, you have to say,

your team really worked hard to get that win, didn't they?

I thought we worked really hard.

You know, I thought we were a little sloppy in the first period.

Really liked the second, the third period,

played the game the right way.

Probably wished we would have shot a little bit more

in some of the odd-numbered situations

that we created in the game, but the game

had a playoff field, too.

Another evolution to this club, a 1-0 lead on the road.

You protected it for basically almost 40 minutes.

Yeah, I mean, you're trying to lengthen that lead,

but we had a couple of good opportunities.

You know, I thought our goal tend to get a pack of a night

keeping them at bay.

Both goal tenders, I thought we were good, made big saves

and big times, but I really liked the way we played in the third.

I think we only give up the one real big opportunity.

I got away from us in front of the net.

But overall, that's a hard win against a good team.

Was this the game where you just felt like the faster team

out there?

Because it seems like every time they got on the rush,

they could close the off super quickly.

Well, I thought our D really did a nice job.

Taking away their speed, meeting them at the line,

not giving them a lot of space.

And then I thought our speed created those four or five,

two and one that we didn't get anything out of.

But we were able to push them back

and create some good opportunities.

You said the other night with Luke and in that,

he really worked hard to get his ice and everything.

It seemed like in this game, he did the same thing.

He worked for his ice.

If it wasn't there, he was knocking people out of the way.

And it seemed like he was taking his ice.

Yeah, I thought he was really in control of his crease.

He was aggressive when he needed to be.

And I thought he read a couple plays,

made a big save, five on six.

With that downhill, one timer, that Ikel shot.

He read the play and I think he got there

in enough time to make the save.

It looks like Stanley's getting more and more comfortable.

What do you like about that pair with Mets after night?

I thought that pair really gave us a good night.

I thought Mets again was really good with the puck.

Just made a lot of great decisions.

I think it probably even helped Logan with his game.

They broke the puck out well, so they didn't spend

a lot of time in the zone.

That pair, you know, I think they worked off each other.

They made a lot of good decisions.

Rasmus said that the referee told him

that that hit wasn't late enough.

Yeah, he told me the same thing.

I argued about that point, but I lost.

So those are tough ones, that hit was a little familiar for me.

I don't like it.

I have to look at it again, I haven't looked at it,

but I thought when I looked at it on the bench,

I thought just a little bit late and you really

want to try to protect your players.

That came back, is he OK?

Yeah.

Yeah, he said just got the win knocked out of him.

You guys are tied for first place in the conference now.

I mean, from where you've been to where you are now,

these guys just seem to keep looking up,

looking for the next thing.

I mean, what does that say about them that even though a lot

of them haven't been involved in this,

they keep succeeding in it.

Yeah, I think we're still in one heck of a battle

when you look at where the conference is at,

where the division and the standings are sitting.

And a lot of guys haven't been there.

And then you wonder how they're

going to handle the pressure points inside the game.

I thought, like, five on six, we did a nice job.

I thought just a composure in the neutral zone

to get that puck to the Norse, create a lane,

and then basically an easy empty net goal.

There's some real good signs.

And I think they're believing how we need to play,

how we need to play as a lead.

And we've proven that we can win a lot of games

that are playing that way.

Thanks a lot.

And then you're off on the post game, Brian, back to you.

Gipalm, all of our locker reports

brought to you by outlet liquor.

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I was mentioning Tuck was out, Kozak was in.

He played 11, 10, four hits.

He went three for three on face offs

and had that late shot with that late opportunity.

Again, filling in for the ill Alex Tuck.

So we'll make that the injury report brought to you

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Brian calls you with you here on the post game.

Thanks for staying up late with us.

It's 115 in the morning here in Buffalo,

where the Sabers beat the Vegas Golden Knights 2 to nothing.

Let's go back to team mobile arena now

and get Paul Hamilton's final take on this one.

Paul, let's start with Luke and in.

First star, 28 saves.

First shot of the season.

He was in control throughout.

And I'll keep saying one, nothing.

I do realize this score was two, nothing.

But it's basically a one, nothing game.

And this wasn't a typical one, nothing game.

I thought I enjoyed it.

I mean, sometimes one, nothing game.

They're really boring.

It's locked down, all the plays in the neutral zone.

I thought there was a fast game.

I thought both goal tenders had to make great saves.

I thought both teams had golden opportunities to score.

I thought Vegas, they shot more than Buffalo did.

Buffalo did too much passing,

but they had the golden opportunity.

They just made the wrong decision.

You know, it was still like, if you're a fan,

you would still say, oh, wow.

Oh, all right, they missed that.

You know, it was still, it was still be exciting.

You know, if you're watching it as a fan.

And so I really enjoyed that game.

It just wasn't a typical one, nothing game.

I didn't think.

And, you know, if you're Aiden Hill, what are you thinking?

The only goal is because you missed played a puck

behind the net and then they banked it in off you.

That's it.

That's the only goal that beat either gold tender.

But there certainly were a lot of chances in that game.

I would agree.

It was not a typical one, nothing game.

It felt more up and down.

And Buffalo did kind of clamp it down a little in the third,

which obviously went well.

Paul, the other moment for the third was the McNabb

high hit on Benson after he shot the puck.

I'm just looking for your take here.

We heard from Dalline.

We heard from Lindy.

Obviously they didn't agree with how it played out.

I don't understand.

I just don't.

I mean, that has to be a major penalty.

I'm sorry.

And the same thing, you know,

I was getting some at the feedback,

you know, you normally get that,

well, that wasn't penalty on Carrick.

Well, it was.

Carrick didn't mean to do that.

It wasn't his objective, but he did it.

And he got to give him a minor penalty for it.

I mean, he did it.

But it wasn't, it wasn't like what we saw in, you know,

with McNabb.

I mean, it's just, he just cartwheeled him and it was late.

It was late.

And I don't understand.

Well, it wasn't late enough.

Well, what is late enough?

I think if we opened our rule books,

I don't think there's supposed to be a stopwatch on it, you know?

I don't know what you're seeing here as a referee.

And it didn't seem like Rasmus Dalline knew either.

I mean, but he, you know, he doesn't want to get fined.

I get it.

But, you know, but he's right.

I mean, Rasmus Dalline is a little bit like this.

It's like, what can you do about it?

You just got to move on.

I mean, some of the hits on him this year, he just goes to Taki.

And that's the way he looks at it.

Sometimes, like Malcolm's it, you know,

when he's swung his stick and him side in the neck.

It's like, well, he lost his head.

It's Taki, we move on, you know?

Kind of like, let the, let the league take care of it.

However, they want to take care of it.

I think Dalline looks at it that way,

because sometimes he gets carried away.

You know, I've never seen him like swung his stick

and it's him in the neck, but, you know,

he's done some goofy things, too.

So, you know, it's, I don't think he gets too perturbed by it,

but he was pretty adamant when they were talking.

And when he and Stone were out there talking to the referees,

he, you could tell, he wasn't real happy with the explanation.

Now, luckily for the Buffalo Sabers and Benson,

he was not seriously hurt.

He just was shaking up a little bit

and came back and played the rest of the game.

So he's okay.

So, I'm sure Lindy Ruffin and Benson's teammates

are breathing a sigh of relief with that.

But, Gabarana, it's, it's the NHL.

We shouldn't be surprised.

And I guess I'm not.

Yeah.

The one negative theme that Lindy Ruff brought up

was the fact that he thought maybe they should have shot more.

And you and I talked about the,

that some of the two on ones that they didn't.

Paul Taj Thompson didn't have a shot.

I don't know if that's anything to read into that

or if there's maybe something holding him back

from shooting more, but he was among some of the players

that maybe could have let more go here at the end of this game.

His pass was probably the only one that connected all night

and they had a lot of them.

But more times than not, the player wasn't even open

so it didn't connect.

I mean, Ossland was coming right down Main Street.

He could have come in as far as he wanted to.

He could have diked, he could have done what every wanted.

But he sees Taj Thompson over to the right.

So well, it's Taj Thompson.

I'm gonna force a puck to him.

Well, yet he was double covered.

So that didn't get through where it worked

was when Thompson had the puck sticking a little bit

and then Samuelson jumped in.

And he found Samuelson in the middle.

Samuelson was stopped and I would still want

Thompson to shoot that puck.

If it's somebody else, I wouldn't get too excited about it.

But when Taj Thompson has that shot,

I talked to Robby a little bit and he said

he was a little off balance but he said

Taj can also shoot from that angle too

when his body is off balance.

So even that time, even though it worked,

I think I would rather see the shot

but tonight was one of the,

when they get into that bad habit of passing

on two on one's every time, every now and then

it's like all night long.

And this was an all night long one

where Hill could probably even start cheating

because he just knew they're gonna pass the puck every time.

The only one who didn't pass the puck,

one player got the message.

He had two of them.

I'm gonna see if maybe you might know who I'm thinking of.

There's one night right near the end,

like in the last two minutes.

Was that the Kozak shot at right at the end, right?

Yes, he had two of them and he shot both times.

And they go, well, he got the message.

You know, he didn't score, but he made the right play.

You know, and that was good to see.

So I just think, I don't know how you get that out of them.

I really don't.

I don't know how Lindy Rupp's gonna get that out of them.

Sometimes it's a slight problem.

Tonight it was a huge problem.

This game didn't necessarily need to be one nothing.

I mean, if some of them were to shot the puck

in key situations instead of trying to pass

but maybe they could have been up three nothing

or something like that and gotten a couple of more goals.

But, you know, high marks for them,

the way they defended, they gave up some great opportunities.

Yes, but Luke and him was right on his game.

And then the sabers were right there to clear some people out.

They had some very good block shots along the way,

which I think was frustrating Vegas.

If it didn't hit Luke and him,

it would hit a defenseman or a forward.

One of the power plays, I think the last one,

Malenstein, right at the end had a fantastic block.

There were a couple of the golden nights

who have goals this year in the thirties

who were just shaking their head by the end of the night.

I mean, they just, they couldn't meet this guy.

And I think Ikele was one of them too.

I mean, Ikele was just shaking his head like,

wow, boy, we've thrown the kitchen sink at him

and look at how, it's not even looking like the buck

even has a chance to go in.

And they're golden opportunities the way he was,

but he was just so confident in fighting for his ice

to make sure he could get out to the angles

and not sliding out of the crease

and taking himself out of the play,

which sometimes happens, you know,

just the last two games.

I mean, a two to one loss is team only scored one goal for him.

And this one is team only scored one goal

without an empty netter for him in this game,

but it was enough, you know, yeah,

they lost two to one to the capitals,

but this game was basically a one to nothing game

with an empty netter.

His one bad game, Paul, when he led in seven,

what did the team do while they scored eight for him?

So I mean, I mean, if Lindy, if Lindy heard you say that

because he already has, he would argue with you, right?

I think I would too.

I mean, we discussed that that night.

Remember, at the end of the second period,

we were saying, well, what goal do you want to blame on him?

They're very good little dicey at times,

but Lindy Ruff's comment was this.

He goes, the team was fighting.

I wanted him to stay in the fight.

He goes, he was really, really fighting to fight

with his teammates, because I didn't want to take him

out of the fight.

And he goes, I defy you to find out five of those goals

that were his fault.

He goes, two of them, one, maybe two, he goes,

maybe you could argue that you needed a big save there,

but he goes, there are five goals.

He had no shot at.

No goal he would have had a shot at it.

He goes, we were awful in front of him.

So, you know, he fought back on that, that, that,

but he really, the reason he kept him in

is he liked the fight that he looked in and was showing.

And he showed, remember, it got to be eight to seven

with about five minutes left and the sabers

protected that lead for the last five minutes.

And he had to make some saves during those five minutes,

too, and he did that.

Yeah, I should say statistically, that was his bad game,

but right, when we were breaking down the goals one by one,

it wasn't one of those nights where you should have said,

well, there definitely should have been a goalie change.

And, and John Cooper did the same thing on the other side.

So, you know, I guess, yeah, it was, that was a, obviously,

a one in a, one in the season, one in a million game,

but we saw there, but nevertheless, the points the same.

Look at him, he's been playing great, lines been playing great.

This rotation is working perfectly.

I mean, it's, there's, there's no holes in it at this moment

here right now.

I don't think Luke and it loves it,

because he keeps sandals.

You know, I want to play more, but he's not complaining either.

I mean, because he's, if they had, as well as he's played,

if Lindy had to pick one, he'd probably pick Lion.

So, I don't know if we'll go back to Luke and then

would win that one.

That's how well Lions playing.

You could pick either one of them, actually,

if you had to pick one, but I think he probably would pick Lion.

So, I think this is working just great.

And the thing is, you know, I watch when I'm in the locker

room to practice whatever they both have smiles on their faces.

They'll both kid around with you.

Like I was kiddin' around with Luke and in the other day.

I said, I can't believe you let the referee stop you

from your first NHL fight.

And we were both laughing.

He goes, well, he got in front of me.

He goes, and I was looking down at the other end.

He wasn't coming.

I go, no, he never moved.

I said, he stayed down there.

And I said, but, you know, you got it at some point,

getting your first NHL fight.

You can't leave this league without a fight.

So, he just laughed.

And he goes, well, we'll see about that.

So, we were kiddin' around.

But that's what I mean.

They're at a spot now where you can have a little bit of fun,

you know, in the locker room, you know,

and you can just see them.

They're just smiling together.

Luke, their lockers are next to each other.

Ellis is on the other side.

He's not with the two gold tenders.

But, you know, they all three of them seem to get along

very well and it's working.

And I think Luke and him realizes it's working.

I think he'd love to play more.

But as he said, he goes, this is good too.

Because, you know, now he knows he's at playing

every other game, he knows how to prepare.

Now that Ellis is back, he doesn't have to dress

as the backup gold tender.

Lion loves that.

Because he loves to get into gym during the game.

And, you know, work out while he's watching the game,

you know, get his head in a place for the next game

and the shooters that he's gonna go against.

So, he really likes that.

That Ellis dresses as the backup gold tender.

He knows that there are games he's gonna have to.

But, you know, Luke and him seems to be preparing him.

So, very well too.

Yeah.

Paul, thank you very much.

I hope you have safe travels to San Jose.

And we'll talk to you Thursday night.

Sounds good, take care.

All right, Paul Hamilton with us here.

Live a team mobile arena in Vegas,

two to nothing, but final Buffalo shutting out Vegas tonight.

And now 10 and one after the Olympic break.

And they'll be in San Jose on Thursday at 10 o'clock.

Okay, for all of our local affiliate stations,

we're gonna say goodbye to you.

If you wanna keep listening to the post game,

go to WGR550.com, or you can listen in on the Odyssey app.

When we come back, we'll read some more tweets, send them in.

As we'll get connected with our fans,

part by Verizon, get to your local Verizon store today.

Hit it the game, save it the game,

drive around the league, standings update, all coming up.

Final score from Vegas.

Sabers two, Golden Knights, nothing.

I'm Brian Colziel, thanks for listening.

This is the Buffalo Sabers radio network.

In behind the net, trying to find a play

and he's hammered by Carrick,

and he took an extra shot at Carrick.

Didn't like the hit.

There's the hit from San Carrick

that makes our collision of the game tonight.

Dan Dunlavy on the call, brought to you by Dan Chacha.

Injury attorneys, don't worry, Chacha's gotcha.

Save it the game time.

Hugo Packalukin in, locked in.

Here's one of his 28 saves.

Now, I cool, able to walk out with it.

Sends it in front, Patsy made.

Oh, what a glove save.

Take that with the shot and a lightning quick glove

by Ukel, Packalukin in.

Great gloves save there with Luke in and getting

his first shot out of the season.

Our save of the game brought to you by your upstate

Honda dealers for great deals on the entire Honda lineup.

Visit your local upstate Honda dealer today.

Two nothing, Sabers.

Let's read some tweets here as we get connected

with our fans powered by Verizon.

Get your local Verizon store today.

A lot of reaction, of course, on the McNab hit on Benson.

Let's see here, Zinn Scully says,

the refs have been brutal.

I've counted three questionable off sides

and four iceings as well.

John says, can't recall the last time I saw

a five minute major being reviewed

that got downgraded to nothing.

Lunacy, Chris says, it's a hundred percent interference,

which I think it should have been.

Waxpeck 916 says, got a love NHL referees.

Yeah, I know.

Kellyn says, the league office is a,

I won't use say that word, joke.

Once butman is gone, they can get new blood in there.

That isn't entrenched, they might call it the game better.

Shane says, the fact that they called it a clean hit.

Yeah, that's what the ref said.

And he says, this league is a clown show.

Mr. Noah all says, these officials used to wild me 10 years ago,

now and he just expect horribly

officially a game, because that's what you're going to get.

RJ says, absolute BS, the NHL is so gross.

One of the best sports on the planet literally

ran by the worst league on the planet.

Trevor says, the NHL does not protect its players.

No rhyme or reason for these calls.

I would agree.

That's the thing you are trying to avoid.

Players getting hit up high in the head.

Like whether it's close or not, if you call this

and it's consistent all the time,

you will have less of your players getting head injury.

If you truly care about protecting your players

and not wanting your stars to leave the game with injuries,

like this is a no brainer.

It just does not make sense why you'd want it to go the other way.

Anyway, lots of tweets coming in on that hit.

We appreciate you sending them in at Bryant WGR.

All right, let's get our driver on the league

and now brought to you by Triple A,

the official partner of the Buffalo Sabers.

All games have now gone final.

The best one of the night for the Sabers.

Caroline loses in regulation.

Five, one of the Blue Jackets.

So that means the Sabers and the Hurricanes

both have 90 points at top of the Eastern Conference.

Bad results with this one.

Three point game, Montreal wins it in overtime.

Caulfield's 40th wins it.

They beat the Bruins three to two.

Islanders over the Maple Leafs three won the final.

Tampa wins in Seattle six to two.

So the lightning stayed within four of the Sabers.

Got Florida just, they can't wait for this season to be over.

They lose in Vancouver five to two.

Over time win for the wild.

They beat the Blackhawks four three.

Shootout victory for the Predators.

They win in Winnipeg four three.

And the Oilers beat the Sharks five to three.

World baseball classic dramatic fashion.

Benenzuela with a home run on the top of the ninth.

They beat the United States three to two to take home the championship.

And two games tonight in the first four.

In the first game, Howard University defeats UMBC 86 to 83.

Howard will advance to the next round and take on Michigan.

That game will be in Buffalo on Thursday night amongst the four contest at Keybank Center.

And in the late game, Texas on a late shot with one second left,

defeated NC State 68 to 66.

So yeah, two more NCAA games tomorrow.

And then there'll be four of them at Keybank Center on Thursday, starting at 130.

That first one is South Florida and Louisville.

The second one, North Dakota State and Michigan State, I'm sorry, in Michigan State.

And then the night games, Michigan and Howard, as I just mentioned, and then the late game

is Georgia and St. Louis.

So looking forward to that.

I'll be there, covered for the station throughout most of the day.

And then going to race out of there after the third game and get ready to host Sabers and

Sharks, which is when we'll speak next, nine o'clock pregame on Thursday night, 10 o'clock

Sabers at San Jose.

And we'll have it for you right here on the Sabers Radio Network.

With that, we're going to say good night and put a wrap on the post game.

I want to thank our crew tonight, Dan Dale, our producer.

Thank you, Dan.

Great job, as always.

Kyle Powell on our social media and our game story, check it out, wgr550.com.

Maddie is our engineer, Paul Hamilton, our reporter.

And for our game and answers, Dan Dunlavy and Rob Ray, I'm Brian Colzio, the final again

from Las Vegas.

It was Buffalo too.

Vegas, nothing.

Enjoy the rest of your evening.

And yeah, go to bed, everybody.

And then we'll talk again on Thursday night, Sabers and Sharks from San Jose right here

on the Buffalo Sabers Radio Network.

Good night, everyone.

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