Best of the Sabres on WGR: Recapping the road trip

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It's Paul Hamilton's appearance brought to by Ray Laxander.

Ray Lax, we got this.

On his way back from Anaheim, where are you, Paul?

Chicago?

I am in Chicago, yes.

All right, red eye back from Anaheim after a, what was it?

Mid-afternoon game there against the ducks.

It was eight o'clock here, so five o'clock in Anaheim.

Yep, five o'clock in Anaheim.

And you got a good one, Paul.

I mean, it was exciting.

That, Paul, that's River Hockey, right?

That's the phrase we've been hearing lately.

These two teams played and it was a wild one.

The Sabers show some fight, but ultimately fall in overtime, six, five.

Well, for most of the last 14 years, if they were behind four to two,

going into third period, you would just say,

well, this game's over.

Let's move on to the next one.

I wasn't thinking that in the least.

I was thinking, oh, they have a good chance to come back here.

We have to see them do it before and sure enough, they did.

And it was just like the first Tampa game in February,

that you should be happy you got a point

because you're going into third period down to,

but then you scored three.

Now you're ahead.

Now you should win the game, right?

And now you didn't win the game

because Alex Tuck takes a dump penalty.

And he's done that before.

That's something that he has a bit of a habit of.

And the team has a habit of it.

They've got not enough habit recently,

but with basically a little over two minutes left in regulation.

And now they pull the goal.

It's a six on four.

So you got two guys running free and one of them scores.

So, you know, and it's the eighth time this year

that Anaheim has tied a game with less than two minutes left.

That first time any NHL team has done that.

So they know how to do that.

And then Thompson got tied himself up over on the board.

The puck was coming his way and he looked

to usually in good shape.

And next thing, you know, he kind of like

trips over himself and then kicks the puck

and Terry winds up with a breakaway.

And as Alex Lyon says, he's a pretty nifty player.

Lyon said he's faced him on breakaways before.

And he knows, you know, he can put nifty moves on.

And he wins the game.

So you say to yourself,

and I still don't know the answer to this question.

Are you pleased because you came back from a two-goal deficit?

You weren't playing very well.

It's the first time in months that Alex Lyon probably wasn't Alex Lyon.

He was struggling a little bit and he was great in the third period.

He made some, I think you see three or four breakaways in the third period.

And Lindy Russ said that was by design basically because they were going for it.

And he told Alex Lyon, you're going to have to make some big stops.

And he did.

You know, he, and I loved the way the two saber goal tenders battle,

you know, looking in and Lyon.

Even if it's not going their way, they just battle.

And he battled in that third period to keep the team in the game.

Until they took the lead.

And so I don't know if you say you did a good job by getting a point.

And now you leave with seven out of eight points on a West Coast trip.

Or do you say, well, you team all the way back.

They had to leave.

You're pretty good at defending leads.

And you should have defended it and walked away with a win.

I think the balance I like here is that I feel great about it.

And I like that they maybe don't.

They feel like they let one get away.

Paul, I asked these guys, and you know,

you referred to Talks penalty as a dumb penalty.

Give me on the dumb scale.

Like, how much of a problem do you have with the talk penalty there?

I a lot.

He just don't, it's a neutral zone.

Don't get your stick tied up in somebody's feet.

And just, you know, it's just kind of a mindless thing.

And, you know, he's such a good player.

And we all know that.

And he does so many good things.

But it's not the first time he's run to the penalty box,

late in the third period.

And I don't remember if those other times cost them goals or not.

But I know he's been one of many that have done that.

And it's not just him.

It was a real problem for this team for a while.

They had to kill penalties down the stretch,

because they were taking late penalties.

So they'd gotten that out of their game,

but it dropped up there.

And unfortunately, it cost him a point.

But, you know, I'm not going to sit there and say,

Alex Duck is a bad hockey player or whatever.

I mean, he does a lot of really good things.

And it's just, that was one thing that, you know,

he'd like to have back.

I'm sure.

Did you see anything in the penalty kill?

Did you notice different about, I don't know,

getting sloppy or is it just, it's lying,

and not looking like himself on the night?

Well, that one was, you got two extra guys running around.

And it's a six on four.

They pulled their gold thunder.

The sabers were within inches of getting that puck out.

And it would have been McLeod right there.

I'm thinking with his speed.

He probably outraces, you know,

the defenseman winds up with an empty net short handed goal.

But they didn't, they didn't get it past that defenseman.

And that defenseman kept it in.

Now, Grandlands got the puck.

He's going towards the slot area.

It's wide open.

As they said, you got two guys free.

And he just rips it home.

So I'm not going to blame them on that one.

If I recall, one of the goals was screened.

And the other one, I thought he lying swat it.

And he looked and it looked like he could see the puck.

He was looking around one of the guys.

But it looked like he had a clear, clear view of it.

And, you know, Criter shots a one-timer.

I thought, I thought Lion got over there in time.

You know, he read it very nicely.

But Criter, he's a power play player.

Always has been.

And, you know, he knows how to be a little bit sneaky there.

And he got it through and with the power play goal.

But yeah, when I like a big save on Criter's goal, sure.

The Sabers power play, Paul.

They also go over in this game.

They had the puck.

It felt like in the Anaheim zone the entire time,

especially those couple in the second period.

But maybe that's also how Anaheim plays.

I don't know if you noticed that.

Like they maybe are more packed in.

And they kind of let you pass it around and just take away

anything in the middle.

Yeah, they.

And you know how I've been talking about all year

that if they just would bring the puck out from the corner,

that's wide open.

If teams will let them do that.

Anaheim wasn't letting them do it.

I saw it don't at least three different times.

Had the idea.

I took one step to take it out of the corner

and they took it away.

So now teams are figuring out that the Sabers like to do that a little bit.

And because they'd scored some goals on it,

at least one team took it away from them.

So yeah, they did move the puck around,

but it was on the outskirts.

They really didn't have shots.

You could tell they were getting a little bit frustrated with it.

And you know, let's be honest,

that was a special teams game.

You know, they lost the special teams battle three nothing.

So, you know, it's when you lose the special teams battle three nothing,

it's going to be awfully difficult to win.

But don't forget to until that five on five goal was scored by Anaheim,

the Sabers had not given up a five on five goals since Domi scored 53 seconds

in the second period for the Maple Leafs in Buffalo.

That had been the last five on five goal they'd given up.

That's the other reason they've given up three goals on the on the trip.

Yeah.

And two of them were in this game and the all were power play goals.

That's the other reason I don't feel that bad about last night's game,

look at them have the energy even in the pace to come back in the third period.

You don't even think about the fact that they played the night before.

I think we've said that a lot when they played back to back.

They have a winning record and they had the gas in the third.

They just don't seem to like they were the better team last night at five on five.

They just don't seem to be as affected by the fact that they played the night before.

Then I'm sure a lot of teams in the league.

Well, look at it what they are on the second day of back to back.

They're 7-1-3 on the second day of back to backs.

I believe they're 7-4 on the first game.

That's not bad.

Yeah.

When you're back to back games, 7-1-3 they'll think that at any time.

They've won a lot of games and back to backs on the second game.

They have a new strength in conditioning coach.

That may be something to do with that.

They're able to handle back-to-back better.

The Lindy Ruff talks to him a lot about practice.

And should they practice?

Should they not?

Should they just meet?

Should they just go in the gym?

Should they have a short 20-minute practice to work on something he wants to work on?

All that seems to be working because you don't go 7-1-3 if you're tired all the time.

Paul Hamilton joining us.

His appearance brought to you by Raylax Honda.

Raylax, we got the Sabers.

Paul, the Kings game.

I want to make sure we get that in as well.

They played back-to-back.

They played the Kings and the Ducks.

And Sam Carrick scores again.

Bill, the statue for this guy.

Jeez, Paul.

Of all the tweaks, additions, he jumps in line up.

He says, he has five goals with the Sabers after four goals with the Rangers in 60 games.

The Carrick acquisition looks about as good as you could possibly ask for of any acquisition.

And you would call that a goal score as goal, though, as winning another Kings.

But you know, you love the play Benson made.

Benson will always take a hit to make a play.

He and I hit by two guys.

And he got clean.

I mean, they hit him hard.

But he saw it coming.

New it was coming, but he takes a hit to make a play.

He gets the fuck to Carrick, who now since two guys decided to hate Benson enough,

that they want to try to drill him through the glass,

that it leaves Carrick.

And he has an open lane to the net.

He takes it.

He put a nice lifting move on on the back end and winds up scoring the goal.

How did you feel, by the way, about the fourth line in general, but we had talked with you like

that Benson maybe hadn't looked the same or hadn't looked right since the Olympic break since the

injury. And he ended that road trip on a three game point streak.

And really he that fourth line that was playing fine ending before he went down there.

But they were creating more offense, especially when it was on it.

I'm trying to think of the game that I wrote that he was back that I go there.

That's the Benson we've been waiting to see.

Might have been the Toronto game.

I was one of those home games, late home games,

before they went on the trip that he started looking like himself again.

And it's not just because he's getting the point.

It's just what we've talked about, you know, taking a hit to make a play, causing havoc,

getting guys to come.

When McNabb came across there, as Lindy Ruff said, and I thought the same thing as I watched at that,

that was a hit from the 70s.

And McNabb laid on Benson, because Benson goes to the middle.

He's got his head down.

McNabb sees it.

And he takes the hit and absolutely, but I don't I don't doubt for a minute that

McNabb knew who that was coming across.

They that other teams hate him.

They hate playing against them.

They just hate him.

And I'm sure McNabb knew that was him coming across with his head down.

The return home, Paul.

And one thing about this upcoming homestead, I think it's kind of fun to think about

as potential playoff previews, Boston, Detroit, and the islanders.

Three of the four games here in Buffalo.

So we get a look.

You know what I mean?

Because they are, they're very likely.

It's not locked up yet.

We know they're going to make the playoffs.

They're also very likely to open at home at this point,

unless Montreal and Tampa both chase them down.

So homestead, playoff previews.

What's not to look?

Yeah, that's been a while.

And we already know who the rest of us, Dalyne wants to play.

He wants the red wings.

Yeah, he after the Olympics, we ask him about Raymond.

What's I think the leading score for Sweden in that in that tournament?

I'm not sure he was.

And you know, Dalyne, there was a lot of busting going on.

Dalyne first said he goes, well,

everybody knows the savers are coming in the Swedish locker room.

And so he was talking trash in there.

And he goes, I would love to play Detroit.

I can't stand Detroit because I love beating them.

And I love beating Raymond.

So we already know we already know who he wants to play.

Everyone seems to want Detroit for one reason or the only team

that's like in the mix with a negative goal difference.

I mean, they might not make it though, Pollock.

They're not, they're not in a spot.

This, this is like the third year in a row where Detroit's been in a

playoffs position all year.

And then in the last month, they kind of blow it.

Yeah, yeah.

And don't forget to the Detroit game.

And I remember mentioning it then that, you know, if the savers somehow

make the playoffs, there certainly wasn't looking good then.

But I said, that would be the game that maybe looked back on when they were

behind four to one in the third period.

That was Dalyne's first game back after he went to take care of things with

fiancee in Sweden.

He came back with a smile on his face.

It was the happiest I had seen him in a long, long time.

And it was contagious.

And they came back and won that game and wanted regulation.

Yeah, but down four, one in the third.

So I would still look back at that game as maybe the start of all this.

It wasn't, they did go on a little mini losing streak after that.

They lost three in a row before December eight rolled around.

And then they took off.

But I still think that that Detroit game was one that really got them rolling.

On the blue line quickly, Paul, like the third pair was pretty solid there.

The last few games of that road trip, Stanley and Metsa.

Do you feel like Lindy will likely just keep rolling with that?

Or do you think he'll have a appetite to get somebody else in the mix?

No, that pair is working and anybody can see it.

Anybody can see that Metsa is their fifth best defenseman and needs to be in the line up

every game. They want size.

So it only makes sense that Stanley is going to be the one.

I think everybody else was, they traded for depth here,

Sid and Shen and even Carrot to be quite honest.

But he also has become a fixture in the lineup and we all know why.

But Stanley was the guy that I think they thought was going to be in the lineup.

I think he's played, I think he and Metsa are a very good pair because Metsa

plays a very level headed game.

He can help his partner, if his partner gets into a little bit of a schmossal

and has helped his partner.

I had Stanley as my first period walk off a couple of games ago

and he's really enjoying playing with Metsa.

You know, he said that it's been almost a immediate chemistry with him

and he's really enjoyed playing with him.

I think that's their third there.

Paul Hamilton, Paul safe travels back and we'll check in on the homestand.

Okay, take care.

His appearance brought to you by Raylach, Sundout, Raylach.

We got this Sabers.

We'll play Boston on Wednesday at Keybank Center.

Speaking of the third pair, did you see the Michael Kesslering

social media stuff from over the weekend?

I did see this that Michael Kesslering has unfollowed the Sabers on social media.

He did and then refollowed them like it's like a half hour later.

Okay.

Which could have been anything that could have been what the agent being like,

Hey, don't do that.

It could have been you hit the wrong button.

It could have, I guess it somehow.

I guess it could have been that also.

But it could be that.

It also is the guy that talked about the first week of the season,

how it was very different being in a hockey market that's very critical of you.

That was the, they played Utah in the first week and we kind of freaked out about that when it happened a little bit.

You don't say that.

Don't talk about how critical we are the first week.

You got here when no one had even been critical of him yet.

And a season's gone by and it hasn't gone well for him.

And I just wonder what his mental space might be in right now.

I just think, is it possible that he was scrolling his phone and he saw too many Sabers updates.

He's like, I'm on the team.

I don't need these updates and he unfollows them and then is.

Does it help though at all the the idea that maybe he did do it on purpose that he tweeted at the

trade deadline like some posts about how the Sabers don't need Colton Peraco.

Glad it didn't happen.

And then he also posted a highlight video of him in Utah and said something along the lines of.

You'll you'll all see when I'm back to this like something like that.

I'll get the exact wording on that because I don't want to misquote him.

Is he getting traded just please just he's been posting on Instagram.

Some things here and there that kind of point to like.

I don't know that he's online or he's out of here.

He's get traded in the I think he's RFA I think RFA yeah.

He's but he's like I think that he knows he's been pushed out.

Yeah.

I think it's just it didn't work.

They got done.

They don't need to worry about the deal looking horrible and the GM's gone.

No, it looks like a win without him right.

Exactly.

So it feels to me like he's probably out just with the way he's talked like you said Joe like.

He didn't seem to really jive with the city right away and it doesn't seem like it's got

any better and now he's buried and like he's probably ready to go.

RFA at the end of the year.

So RFA yeah.

I can see why like he's he's battled through injury all year.

He even really said I think around the Olympic break that he's probably he's got it.

He's got something he's going to have to deal with it the rest of the year that he won't be

back to 100% for the rest of the year.

So if you're battling through injury and your job gets taken from you.

I mean, I could see why that would be frustrating.

The thing that I would just want to say is any idea that this goes back to what he said in November.

I hope he doesn't think like he is the source of all of this criticism.

Because how often does he come up?

Oh, almost never.

He's not like this lightning rod that everyone's always debating and yelling at.

And power was saying the stuff he was saying.

Power would make more sense.

That would be you know, that would matter to everybody.

But he's a he's a throwing for the deal because don't spend what he's been.

Yeah.

And nobody really needs anything out of him.

He's played in 32 games this year.

And I don't know.

Sure, he's got two points, but whatever.

I can't tell you I remember a shift.

There were a couple times when he got back after like four or five games where he was flying around.

I was like, all right, you know, there's the speed.

No, but it never came together.

And he never I said this the whole time with him.

I think it's really hard to jump into this system quickly and feel okay.

Especially as a guy that's supposed to be able to skate and move the puck like

Stanley can come in and just kind of do Stanley stuff.

Anybody can do that in any role.

But like, not any role.

Anybody can do that on any team that roles needed.

Castling was supposed to be a real puck mover sort of dynamic guy.

And he was hurt for the start of the year and then had to jump in.

And they were flying already.

And like, that's probably pretty tough.

Yeah.

Well, he'll probably play in the playoffs.

They're going to do everybody plays.

You go deep.

You got if you go deep, people play.

Guys get hurt.

Who's ahead?

I mean, I'm just I'm only looking at like guys will get hurt.

This is this is the same as me saying how many defenseman down is he though?

Uh, two two out two that are not in the lineup.

Yeah, she's behind Timmins.

Timmins.

I think almost for sure.

Is he behind Shen?

Timmins was good for them.

So I what do I need?

Do I need three injuries for him to get?

I think he's above Shen.

I'm I'm treating.

I'm treating Keon Coleman, which is like he's on the team.

And I don't think I do.

He's putting him in.

But they're like, you're going to have moments where you're you.

I just feel like you'll probably look to him.

But if you're the ninth defenseman,

how many how do you get in?

I want to add a Shen.

I right.

I like I'm with you.

I think he's above Shen personally.

I think he is too.

It depends on the share that goes out.

That's true.

Right.

Right.

Like if if if a I feel like I don't know much more about Timmins

than I do about Castle Ring.

Like he's I know Timmins can penalty kill and that's about it.

Now he's he's I liked Timmins a lot at the start of the year.

I was excited about what he was doing.

Here's what you know about Timmins.

Who did Lindy Trussmore?

Timmins played 19 and a half minutes per night.

Like on average.

Yeah.

Like Metsa who I'm with Paul.

Like he's been rock saw.

I loved him last night.

And he's got this crazy street going of like, you know,

not allowing a goal that still goes to October.

But Lindy has not played Metsa in a game this year for 16 minutes.

He's not played a single game for 16 minutes.

Timmins averaged 19 and a half minutes.

And he's a Lindy clearly showed a faith in Timmins

when he was on the team that he has not showed

in any of those other depth defensemen.

So I don't know what I don't know what his health status is.

So he broke his leg.

That I don't know he was on this trip.

I think he was on the trip.

He was there.

But if on the ice as he as effective as he was before.

And even before he was, it was debatable.

Like five on five, he kind of got his head caved in.

Broken, broken leg.

You can, if you're healed up, like that's, you're good.

That's kind of the end of it.

803 05 50 our number.

Cinderella being gone.

You guys buy it.

We talked about it on the other side of you want.

No Cinderella's.

There are no double digit seeds.

Iowa can't be a Cinderella.

Well, Texas is a double digit.

Sorry, yeah, you're right.

Sorry, I love it.

But they're Texas.

But last year, like the last two years

in the tournament, last year, I saw some numbers on this.

The elite eight was all ones and twos,

except for one two was not in and it was a three.

It was four ones, three twos and one three,

with the elite eight.

Cinderella is supposed to make it how far.

Right?

Isn't Cinderella as the as the concept?

It peaks in the second game.

Who can make it to the the sweet 16.

Then we get this week and you wake up on Thursday.

Like, all right, Duke's playing who?

It looks like a free pass.

I mean, we've got our occasional George Mason makes it or whatever.

But I think that again, for me, the tournament,

the star of the tournament is the tournament itself.

And if Cinderella is the Cinderella teams

or in this game, in these games, like Sienna was,

then that delivers.

You know, I actually don't need Sienna to win the game.

I need Sienna to put the fear into Duke.

And if Duke gets knocked off, I get to laugh about that.

But I don't really know.

I saw some numbers on this,

that like, what might be different?

What's changed?

And it's basically that, among other things,

if you did like the Ken Palm ratings of these teams,

the teams that are 13, 14, 15 seeds are weaker than they used to be.

And the teams that are at the top are stronger.

So, you know, you're one versus 16.

You're two versus 15.

You're three versus 14.

They're just not the same as they used to be.

And that could be NIL, that could be transfer portal.

You really, you could see it in the numbers

of the power rankings over the course of the year.

And last year, that these teams at the bottom aren't as good.

Yeah.

I think a lot of it too is, it's the mid major point, right?

It's not just low seeds.

If a mid major was having a great year and was a five or a six,

and they were going really far with this incredible

historic year, like that would feel different.

It's the team that you've never heard of before.

And you know, them just going on this run

is the greatest thing that's ever happened in that program.

It's a high point winning a game was the highlight of their program.

Whereas Texas and Iowa, making it as 9 and 11 to the sweet 16,

what is that? The 50th most impressive thing

that they've done in athletic history at the schools?

Like, that's a part of it.

Like, where are my, I'm looking back over time.

St. Peter's in 2022 is a 15 seed, made the sweet 16.

Like, the thing that will be remembered for them forever.

Like, that's the school that you're, that you're looking for.

I guess I don't know how different it is though.

Like, are we just making this a bigger deal

because it feels like it fits with the whole NIL conversation

or where there are actually a lot of years

in there 10, 15 years ago, where, yeah, this is kind of what happened.

There wasn't a 14 that made it to the lead eight.

You also have conferences that have gotten a lot bigger, right?

Like, you're just, sure, larger conferences

and some of these mid majors get swept up

into the bigger conferences.

And all of a sudden, like, well, there are a few that exist

and the ones that replace them.

I guess we were spoiled post-COVID

because three years in a row, a 15 seed made it to the sweet 16.

One multiple games.

Oral Roberts, St. Peter's, and Princeton.

And you haven't had that in a couple of years since.

So, but before that, like, the lowest seed that made the sweet 16,

Oregon is a 12.

Syracuse is an 11.

Xavier is an 11.

Gonzaga is an 11.

UCLA is an 11.

And these are not mid major.

Right, as you say, like, those were the lowest,

lowest seeds that made it this far.

Right, you're not allowed to be considered Cinderella.

Like, Syracuse making it as an 11 seed is not Cinderella.

No, you have to have almost never heard of the school.

It's pretty much how it goes.

803-0550, 188-0550, 255-50.

Talking Sabers, got some mock draft news to get to as well.

It's mock draft season.

We're getting into that.

Join us, 803-0550 here on WTR.

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Favorite Sabers moment from the weekend?

I got to say for me, the Thompson goal in LA on Saturday.

One, one, one, one.

It was into the second period.

I was in a packed bar.

So a lot of excitement, expectations,

and it was just such a great play that he made individually.

I can't think of another play from the weekend that was a cooler play.

And it, you know, tied the game.

So of course, big reaction.

And they went on to win from there.

That was a pretty great moment for me.

Took the pressure off a little bit.

Yeah, right.

Because you knew you don't know.

Sabers have pushed back on this pretty hard.

Like I wanted to say, you know, they're going to lose at some point.

And then you're almost halfway through a game or so.

And I of course had the last time I had been to this bar for a Saturday afternoon game

was the game that ended the 10-game win streak.

Like I mentioned on Friday, like I just have a little bad.

Like I'm going, I'm going to go.

I'm going to enjoy it, especially if they win.

And I regret it if they would win.

And I wouldn't be there because I was scared because the Columbus game didn't go well.

But still, scoreless early second period.

Well, Sabers hadn't scored yet.

LA was up.

Like, come on, come on, come on.

Do the thing.

Okay, they're going to, he did the, okay, we're fine.

I was, I'm going to pick the second goal from that game.

I can't get enough of Benson.

I'm just loving him.

I mean, he takes that elbow, that forearm on that play on the wall.

After essentially dribbling the puck across into the zone, which was challenged.

But I think my understanding of it is, you can't challenge something that happens outside

of the blue line, right?

Is that what we got there?

I think there was something like that that was explained.

Marty got into it.

I didn't, uh, did I mention the part about being in a crowded car?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, I didn't get a grade.

I thought they were reviewing it for a high stick there.

I didn't even know for sure what was happening there.

Yeah, I think it might have been, but it was outside of the blue line.

Yeah, maybe it was close.

But yeah, he sort of bobbles the puck to himself, gets in and then just gets wrecked.

I suppose that's clean too, like the one in Vegas because big guy, a little guy.

That's always fine because what?

What am I supposed to do?

I can just elbow you in the head and it's not not a problem.

He just jumps right up from that hit.

And the guy might have stopped for a second after throwing the check and there it's

Carrick, yeah, who goes in underneath them and walks into the slot and scores.

And that's for the lead.

That's the winner.

That's two one and then yeah, right, right.

I can't get enough of Benson.

I don't know.

He is, he is, and he's not even to me right now at his Paul.

And I talked about this one day recently.

I don't think you were here for it.

Paul thought this maybe is a week old, but Paul thought he's not all the way healthy yet.

Otherwise, I think he'd play his way back onto the top line.

He'd be playing with Thompson and Tuck and he's still playing on that fourth line.

But I mean, it's paying off.

Yeah, he's such a, he's just such an interesting character.

The fact that like at least one teammate, like Taste Thompson said publicly on some video

podcast I saw that he thinks Benson might be the dumbest teammate he's ever had in his life.

Oh, no.

You know, in a lovable kind of way, he's just like, you know, he's just such a

face, his size the way he plays.

Like everything about him is absolutely endearing if the guy's on your team.

And if he's not, you're just sort of like, who's this little dirtbag?

But he's just, he's our guy.

He's I adore watching him play.

Really, really, there's a lot of character there.

Yeah, the one day maybe a month ago or so we were talking about the Sabers and their

jerk quotient or whatever it was.

And that's been at times I would say in their history where they've been somewhat lacking.

99 goes to the finals, 98, 99 or 97 to 99.

That stretch, they had tons of it.

Oh, yeah.

And, you know, they overachieved.

And that's not saying that has to correlate.

But I'm completely good with how much of that these guys have.

And that showed up against the lightning.

These hits that he takes, you know, whether they respond to it, the one in Pittsburgh with

Malcolm and Dalline, I don't need to be the Sabers to be a team that just sort of like a cliche

jumps in every time somebody goes down.

And there was one where they just kept playing and won the game on it.

That was my favorite.

He's 200 games in now, Benson.

Yeah, I know.

And he's not 21 yet.

Right.

I don't know.

They lost last night.

I don't want to sound like I didn't know that.

But just barely, just barely.

It was in over times.

They got a point seven out of eight points.

Yeah, I wonder how, you know, like, it's funny.

Like hockey can play tricks on you.

If you are thinking about your perception of a certain team, a certain rival,

and that they're always this one way, like Boston is the next game.

Boston's coming in here on Wednesday night.

And that's a team that I still perceive as

probably thinking they're above you, even though they're not in the standing.

It's like there, to me, they could try to do a lot of what Tampa did a couple weeks ago

when they come in here.

Like, where are the Bruins?

By the way, like, and here's where it gets sketchy because I'm not sure who the guys are

currently on the Bruins roster for this.

You know, I mean, like, I'm not sure who they've got.

Right.

Zadora.

Fighty.

Yeah.

Okay.

Good place to start.

That's a headhunter knee, knee, knee got like he's he scored on.

Yeah.

Saturday night.

But he's got he's he's got.

Yeah.

He'll hurt you kind of on purpose, right?

But I could just see the Bruins wanting to like,

test the same.

All right.

Are you ready for this?

I was talking to a Bruins fan friend of mine yesterday afternoon about this.

Like, you know, how good?

How good are you?

Like, honestly, I'm just asking like, how good do you think your team is?

Are they good?

Good.

Or they're just kind of like going to get in good.

It's like, it'll be interesting to see what if they can play

heavy in the playoffs and whether that that gain, you know,

wherever the whatever kind of year they've had, they're outshined by a few teams

in the vision.

But if we're capable of playing this way, right?

Along the walls and just muddying the game up.

Then, you know, that's an experienced group there.

Maybe they can pull that off.

Um, I just think every one of these teams that has historically been,

I mean, everybody's taken turns being ahead of the Sabers.

I mean, Sabers have been in last place a lot.

I just think everybody's going to want to turn it to like,

are you really up for this?

You really, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, about a spear in the groin.

How's that feel?

Yeah, all right, you know, a little more.

Like, I could just see hockey teams being that way.

And the Bruins, we'll see again, like, that's who they are.

That's who their reputation has been.

I'm not sure that that's still them,

but I have expected them to come out, like, with foil taped on their hands.

Well, I certainly don't have to tell you this, but that's always sort of the,

the tactic of the second best team on the ice.

You set up for a playoff series.

You know, if the other team is better than you, or at least their record is,

and you know, you take your shots, the flyers in, uh, oh six, right?

What were the two teams?

One was big and old and dirty, you know,

kind of, and the sabers were fast and smaller.

So what happens?

And you can't be something you're not.

I mean, I don't think you want to be, what I'm saying is, and I think you'd agree,

this piece with this sabers team seems in character.

It doesn't seem like a team that's forcing it.

In that way, we're just going to have to jump this guy because that happened.

No, it seems like authentic, which I think is good.

So the, the underdog will probably want to do that.

And if reputation and history and those things factor into that, then so be it.

But you're probably right.

And you got to figure out how much time and energy do you want to invest in trying to keep up

with that? Because it doesn't have to work.

Like you, you get in the box and, you know, you could see that I'll slip away right there.

Yeah, I think the reason what, just to fill it out from my line of thinking,

because I agree with you, I think the underdog usually takes on that role.

In this case, like it's a little bit to me.

Yes, I don't want to end up on the wrong end of penalty things.

What I'm hoping I'm going to do is I'm going to get you to overreact.

Like I'm going to push you in ways that, you know, teams get pushed at this time of the year.

And you're new here.

Are you, you know, do you know the move?

Do you know, you know, one enough is enough, right?

Or are you going to go one, one too far?

And so you're going to get the extra two.

I just think it's a tactic to try to use on a greenish,

non-experienced playoff team.

Yeah, I was going to try to, you know, I think I'm going to win the series by intimidating you.

But I might get the odd extra power play out of it.

And that's maybe all I need. It's the playoffs.

You know, we're in a tight game in game one.

And I suck you into something stupid behind the net.

And you take the extra penalty.

I score. I win three two.

Thanks for coming.

You know, like I think it's stuff like that.

But be trying to just sort of set the, just set it up for you to see.

Can this team handle emotionally handle themselves if we tweak them?

I think the Sabers should be ready to get tweaked.

I think I would do it.

Like if that's why Tampa, you could see Tampa coming

up from a million miles away a couple of weeks ago.

I mean, the Sabers all said it.

They knew that that was going to happen.

I think there'll be more of that over this next three weeks or so.

Even into the playoffs.

Yeah, yeah.

Well into a series.

Yeah, yeah, you're you're up three one late in game one.

You better believe there's going to be cross checks in the neck and all kinds of crap.

Because that's just that's how it goes.

Like welcome back.

Yeah, really.

How about Karak here?

Four goals in 60, then five and nine did I see?

I'm not sure he scored last night.

He scored against the Kings that two one goal.

Pretty good little.

Yeah.

Boss Benning is actually been a really nice lad.

I think so too.

Yeah, I mean, I think you would have taken no goals from him.

If he was just going to play, you know, win some draws, kill some penalties,

like fill that role, like real, like experienced NHL player.

But the offense is really I mean, that was a beautiful goal.

He scored on Saturday afternoon.

He's big in that Tampa win too.

Yeah, fight fight and the goal goal that was the one that was maybe easy to forget.

Right.

Because there's the midst of them going up on you twice by two.

He scored to make it I think six five.

I think yeah, right.

Very exciting 803 05 50.

If you want to join us talking about how this is all going,

playoffs less than a month now.

Sabers will be in.

We don't have that official, but it certainly continues to trend that way.

Boston Wednesday.

It's four in a row at home now.

Friday is Detroit.

Big games.

And of course, for those teams, especially that are trying to get in.

I mean, really close for so many teams right now.

Seattle is here on Saturday.

And then they're coming off.

They'll be coming off a game against the lightning, I believe.

And then the Islanders early next week.

There's nothing that we need to talk about that needs to change is there.

Like it's just with the sabers.

Yeah, I mean, when they when they got to Vegas,

it was, you know, just more of the same with the goalie rotation and the lineup and anything

that needs to be dealt with here and there really didn't seem to be.

And I would say after another week down, it's the same.

I don't know, keep keep alternating, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I don't think there's anything that needs to change there.

I do think since like, you know, this time last week, I think it was,

do we really need to see Stanley and Shen together ever again?

And so far, we haven't seen them together again.

Shen just says the one game, two, he played two.

And there were mistakes in both games.

There was a bad pass at the blue line that led to a Washington goal that probably

should have been saved, but it wasn't.

And then you had the bad giveaway against Toronto.

And he hasn't played since.

And largely, I think that I hope that that is because they view Metsa and Stanley as sort of

stabilizing that third pair.

I did, you know, is that at the bar Saturday?

I did watch last night too.

I feel like that that has

been a big hit for me because that's so far so good.

I would say the two of them together.

And I hope it stays that way.

I mean, they'll have timmins maybe at some point as an option.

But Metsa, to me, has played his way into the playoff lineup.

It can still change.

There's 11 games left.

But I like, I like the, and he can spot him here and there with the other four

because he moves around and moves the puck really well.

So he can give you a blow there too.

But he and Stanley on our own have looked credible enough for your third pair.

You know, it's rising tide.

I mean, it's like not to say that Metsa or Carrick or anybody else that plays a lesser role

than the top guys don't deserve the credit for it.

But it's really, again, 2006, a team where there's just less pressure on those guys maybe

or it's less necessary that your third paired defense or your fourth line forwards

really like produce and excel for you because you've got a team here where

they can get away with it often without that.

But then you had that with that team 20 years ago where suddenly,

guys that you didn't even really know anything about in the beginning as it took off.

We're like, wow, this guy's maybe pretty good.

And I don't know if Campbell is the one I want for this.

But remember how Brian Campbell for a few years was like fringe NHL.

Even in 506, he was like a spare part for the front end of that year.

And then suddenly, again, I'm not trying to take credit away from him because he's the one,

of course, responsible for it.

But now your team takes off and confidence can come with that and just the different

benefits from being on a team that is really rolling.

And so it's kind of both things that the fact that Metsa

has been good is helping with all of this.

But it's also helping him that, you know, he's on a team that has just been so hot for so long.

803-0550 for your calls, Sabers in Action next on Wednesday against Boston.

Thinking about the playoffs, Bulldogs going to Montana.

This is not a superstition thing where you're going to leave the area for the playoffs.

It's not like that at all just coincidence.

Unfortunate coincidence.

That's absolutely.

Yeah, I mean, I made plans before they got hot is all.

And I did not really think about the end of the hockey season when I was

happy playing for that.

I was looking at flights, I was looking at the lodge we're staying at,

their availability and trying to fit it into our lives.

And I was like, okay, well, mid-April sounds good.

And, you know, yeah.

Like a lot of things in life, you know, back before they start,

before they won 10 games in a row around the holidays,

I was not thinking at all about when the hockey playoffs would begin,

because we don't have the hockey playoffs.

I live in Buffalo.

So I'm free to go, you know, make sure I avoid the NFL.

I want to be here for the NFL draft.

That was a, okay, so squeeze it in before that.

That's the 23rd.

Right.

So I'm a, you know, a week ahead of that.

Okay, that should be fine.

Wasn't even thinking at all about the hockey play.

There's another thing that we used to think about,

that we never did, which is, what if they play on the night of the draft?

Right.

We need a plan.

I'm sure there is one, but we need a plan for

if they play on the night of the draft.

What should it be?

We carry the games.

Yeah, I think draft coverage has to go somewhere else.

Oh, the NFL draft getting bumped.

Wow.

They'll probably play on one or two of those draft days.

Yeah, I would say it would stand a reason that,

yeah, even Saturday too, but I'm thinking about the night,

the Thursday, Friday.

Saturday would think it'd be over probably by the time.

If you played it night, you could play a day game.

But you could play a day game on the Saturday.

That's right.

Yeah, you're looking at, you know,

depending, maybe the first rounds over and they're just resting waiting

for everybody else to catch up.

After they sweep whoever they're going to play in the first

and be pretty quick.

I don't think they can pull that off quite that fast,

but yeah, we used to have that.

No, that's right.

Thursday, that Thursday might be the,

if you start Saturday's going to be the first day of the playoffs,

I assume.

18th is the 18th.

Saturday's right.

So if you played Saturday, Monday,

when, yeah, you can't wrap up a series before the draft.

Probably.

Probably fun to think about.

Yeah.

But yeah, you know, you're having to, I mean,

I do this every year for the NFL draft,

watching other playoff hockey games.

And I end up just sitting there staring at the draft.

Like, I always think, oh, yeah.

Oh, I love the hockey playoffs.

I'm going to watch the hockey game.

The draft starts and I'm just like, I love the draft.

I love the draft.

It's not a hockey game, but it's like super compelling.

And I end up just sitting there.

So a Saber's playoff game is a whole different thing though.

Oh, it has to be.

I think you're just going to have to tell me who they pick.

We'll break into coverage.

We'll break into whatever.

I'm just saying I didn't get my, my attention.

My attention will not be, I will not be that interested in what the chiefs are doing.

Early in round one.

I mean, I want to know eventually, but that, you know, eight o'clock that night.

No, I got time for that.

Sabers are on.

I remember being at a Saber's game during the draft.

Maybe six or seven.

One of those, one of those years they were home.

Yeah.

Maybe the Islander series.

I don't know, whatever.

I think Terrell Trupp happened when I was at a Saber's game.

Well, that's a name.

Memories of Terrell Trupp.

When he was drafted, where were you?

I was right outside section 117, I think.

That's how I remember it.

Very cool.

Well, Benson, Karek,

the Thompson, Goal, great play in LA,

come back last night, I had, I had a Parley with a power goal on it.

Oh, that hurt to lose.

Too bad.

Yeah, I didn't get the Anaheim guy.

And who was the other one that I had?

Tuck.

I won on Don, Don't Encryter.

All right.

It was good.

Good.

I texted you and we talked about it a little bit.

I just checked it, you know, on, on a whim,

yesterday afternoon on, on the app.

And the over under was six and a half.

And they're coming off these games where they're just not giving up any goals.

So I thought maybe that was a sign.

It doesn't have to be right, but it did work out.

Right.

11 goals in the game.

Yeah, yeah.

So everything was parlayed with the over, which was, you know, exciting.

When Anaheim would score, I would, you know, too bad.

But, what if it's my guy?

Never was.

Go, Jay?

Yeah, I don't, yeah.

Well, Criter was, but, right, gocheted.

It's something you had a lot of guys.

I had a few guys.

There was two goals, too, anyway.

I did it differently than you do it.

You have one bet, usually, with, and I took a ball.

And depending on what the odds are like, I augment it with other things to get,

just get it up to where, you know, 10, 10 or 20 bucks is going to win me two grand.

Yeah.

So, yeah, the Townsend Hat trick was around 4500.

Yesterday in this game against Anaheim.

So, I threw in, I did the over.

I had the Sabers minus one and a half and the over.

And I think Dalyne for two assists.

There's a, that's a sweetener.

I'll do that.

Sure.

I feel like if Thompson's going to, it's a game where Thompson's going to get a hat trick,

I'm going to trust that Dalyne is going to pick up a couple of points.

And the Thompson number is coming down all the time.

It was, it's been really, to me, unbetable.

Like, in the 3000 range, which is just, no.

It was double that when I was doing it every time.

So, I haven't been messing with it much at all.

Sunday was the first time in a long time.

I bet it.

Just for the hell of it.

Because I also had, like, you texted me.

And I guess I, I would also be like, I know Anaheim can play though.

Any of those, the San Jose is the same way.

Like, they don't really de-it up that great,

but they've got a lot of talent and they can get into a kind of back and forth game with you.

And I just sort of felt like maybe that, that game,

smelled like that to me.

One hat trick this year for Thompson, against Montreal in January.

Four different sabers have hat tricks.

Thompson, Dalyne against the Leafs,

Tuck against the Kings, the home game against the Kings,

and then Quinn last week against the Sharks.

Yep, a week before, yeah.

Mike Schopen, the Bulldog here, March 10th.

803-0550 to join us.

We'll get some football in.

Paul Hamilton on the sabers coming up at 6th, this is WGR.

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I mean, I have so much to get to today, I don't even know where to begin.

I was debating, starting today with a little bit of kind of social media madness last night,

and a question for some of you when it relates to the sabers and tweeting,

and something happened last night, and just talking about that, I was thinking about that.

Because the big deal in my head, and I need to know,

and I thought about, well, we had the NCAA tournament,

and that was really cool and buffalo, and we definitely have to touch on that.

And we have Ryan Van Marck situation, we got to touch on that.

But I think I have to start today with how my weekend started.

And that is,

Danielle, have you ever been to a meat raffle?

I actually have.

Did you like it?

I had a great time, yeah.

Meat raffles are amazing.

Clip that little part and put it on something.

Meat raffles are amazing.

They are incredible, and they are a buffalo thing now.

Do meat raffles going on around the country like they are in buffalo?

I really, I kind of don't think so, but I'm not sure.

Is this like our own deal?

I've never really went on my way and said where are the meat raffles in other places other than buffalo.

Well, you need to find something because I'm going there.

These things are awesome, man.

So I had been to two before.

And one, I was actually, believe it or not, the first meat raffle I was ever at, I was the MC.

And I'm like, what?

I didn't even know what it was.

And I did it.

I'm like, this is super cool, right?

And then I went to one last year.

And a little shout out.

That was actually to Poncho's army.

They did a great job of raising some money.

I was at that one.

So this weekend, last Friday, this last weekend on Friday,

it is, we had a meat raffle to raise money for my son's little league baseball team.

So if you don't know anything about little league baseball, not everybody does this,

but basically your 12 year, your 12 year old year for travel is the year to go to Cooper's

town. It's a big, big deal in the baseball community and, you know, countrywide, basically,

right? And it's like this big thing.

And some leagues literally save up for years to send their 12 year team to Cooper's town.

Some leagues, it's all different how they do it.

The league we play and we happen to be sending multiple teams this year because,

you know, it's travel baseball is gotten so big. So we have that.

So we have to raise a lot of money.

And every year for the last few years, our league has been doing a meat raffle is our big kind

of fundraiser. There's a bunch more.

Hey, if you're interested in donating, by the way, we still have a long way to go to raise a

lot of money to go to Cooper's town, which is going to be awesome. It's going to be in late

and summer and I got to stay, I'm, I'm coach and I got to stay in the barracks with the kids.

They say barracks in Cooper's town. Really cool. But it's amazing and they pay, they could,

they could literally play a game at like two in the morning, depending on rain delays on the

turf field or who knows. But the kids have an awesome time. Everybody, everybody I've talked to

has said, which is another discussion for another day about this and maybe we'll do something

down the road. You know, in the summer, a good topic on the show, but everybody I've talked to

says, sell Cooper's town, most frustrating, grinding, fundraising thing you'll ever do. But

oh my God, it's the greatest experience for these kids. It's incredible. So anyway, I'm looking forward

to it. So if you want to want to help raise some money there, let me know. Donate because we

got to go to Cooper's town and I got a coach. But we did our fundraiser. We did our meat raffle.

And my mom, who's 75, going to be 76 this year, she had never been to a meat raffle. And she's

from Buffalo. My mom's originally from South Buffalo. All right. So you know, I mean, come on.

My mom's a South Buffalo girl. All right. She, you know, she's going to love a meat raffle.

I've told, so I kept telling her, mom, you got to go to this meat raffle. I don't know.

You know, they play bingo and all that. My mom, I stepped up dead. I'm like, you got to go to this,

you got to go. It's for Max. It's for the, you know, okay, we'll go fundraiser for Max. We'll do it.

And I know she, I could tell she was kind of on the fence about if she would have a good time or

not. I'm like, don't worry. Have a good time. All these basket raffles, so many donations, basket

raffles, door prizes. Right. It's amazing. Everybody, people listening right now to this radio program

are like, I still don't know what a meat raffle is. Some people are doing that right now. And I'm telling

you, it is an amazing experience. So because of all these, the basket raffles, the door prizes,

you can have different, depending on what haul you go to, you can have like a,

you can have like bring your own alcohol or you can like have to buy it there. And there's

all different ways to do it. Right. People, so what happens is there's in like a big, big hall,

all these tables, people bring in food upon food, pizza, wings, subs, snacks, candy.

You're just sitting there at your table with food everywhere and it's great.

Everybody brings their own food and it's amazing. And then, and then all of a sudden,

you start to meet raffles. So it works is in case you haven't been there. They say,

right, in this draw, in this round, we're going to give away like two big things of Italian sausage

or some sort of pizza logs or chicken wings or chicken tenders, whatever, steak, ground beef.

And then you say, all right, they say $2 for a raffle ticket for this one. And you hailed up

your hand and say, well, I want two of those. That's $4, right? I want three of them. That's $6.

Whatever. And they give you a raffle ticket. Then they spin this big wheel,

and it stops. And they say, all right, ticket number 15. And whoever has ticket number 15,

and you can have multiple people actually because there's multiple meats. Yeah. And it's like

bingo. It's kind of like bingo or a yellow bingo. So anyway, we do this. We get there. And I was

telling my mom, I could tell my mom's like on the fence, right? She want to go. Sure enough, Dan,

the first game, which is, you know, you start, you have like three, four spins of game,

but your raffle tickets good for each of those. And my mom wins a big bag of chicken wings and a

big bottle of hot sauce. And she didn't know. And if the ticket is in front of her, and she's got

this numbers, and it goes and I go, mom, you won, mom, you won. She's like, what? I'm like, go.

You're in everybody's like, woo, because you stand up and you say you won. My mom goes and gets

the bag of chicken wings. She gets the bag of the bottle of hot sauce. She, I'm telling you know,

my mom's hooked on meat raffles. I think I think she's hooked because she didn't want again later.

And then we won a couple of times. She saw that. It was great. We had a good night.

Meat raffles are the best. So I'm just telling you, you know what? And then the MC part. And of

course, I never met a microphone. I didn't like, right? I mean, so we had a great MC and her name is

Katie. And you know, we know each other and I'd be and I would go up there and I would take the

mic every once in a while and say a couple things just to kind of keep it, you know, energetic and

fresh and whatever. And she did a great job. So I guess what I'm saying is I like, I maybe I

should make a second career out of being the MC of meat raffles. I could do that. I mean, I did the

make a wish scale the last weekend. And then I didn't do the meat raffle. I wasn't the MC, but I

could do that. I could be the MC of your meat raffle out there if you want. I'm just letting you

all know. I think Nate Geary said the same thing recently. Like two years ago, he did the same

thing. He's like, I would do this. I'm telling you I would do it. Maybe me and Nate would

vie for like maybe me and Nate could double team MC or meat raffle for your for your fundraiser.

So anyway, I put something on on social on that. And someone replied when I'm like, oh my god,

my mom won this at a meat raffle. She's now hooked and someone goes, well, hear me out. Why does she

just go buy chicken wings and a bottle of hot sauce? I'm like, because that doesn't raise money

for good causes. And people didn't realize. So it got into this whole thing about what is it?

Why do we do it? And I'm I'm I'm seriously wondering like our meat raffles.

Any mayor. Okay, see biggest fundraiser. Okay, we got see, we got you chiming in on this. Thank

you. This is getting connected with our fans brought to you by Nortown, Kia Western New York's

number one, Kia dealer shop online at NortownKia.com. I knew I'd get some responses. Thank you so

much. Jeffrey says my dad years ago was asked if you would mind

uh, umping that event. Oh, this Cooperstown. I don't know. Okay, travel teams bring it on

fire. Thank you. Sorry. Chuck says at any American Legion, it's our biggest fundraiser of the year.

And our beer is free. You see, that's what I'm talking about. Evan says, no way. Stop.

My in-laws went to their first meat raffle for our daughters, 10 years softball team and

Lancaster. And my mother-in-law walked away with the 50 50 see. She's hooked now, Evan. That's

what I mean. I want to know though, I'm not kidding. I don't know this answer. Are they just a buffalo

thing? Are meat raffles just because I do not like see them being posted in all these other communities.

And if they are, I kind of want to be only a buffalo thing. It's cool. Like you can go raise

money somewhere else in some other community with your meat raffle. But I like that it's ours.

It's like beef on Weck. It's our thing. You don't get beef on Weck in, you know, Des Moines, Iowa.

You get it in Buffalo, New York. So I don't know if you're getting a meat raffle in Des Moines, Iowa.

You're getting it in Buffalo, New York in the surrounding communities.

Yes. So thank you, Evan. Exactly, right? So now your mother-in-laws hooked. My mom's hooked. She won,

she won twice. We won twice. We came home with, thankfully, we had a bag to put the meat in.

Some people literally bring coolers, but they're drinks in. And then when they went to put the meat

in the cooler, I could think when they have to take it. Oh, I love it. Oh my God. Okay. So

fishets says just like peanut stick doughnuts and good pizza meat raffles 100 do not exist

outside of Buffalo. There you go. I'm going to start the hashtag keep meat raffles Buffalo only,

something like that, because we, I want to protect this thing. Can we like trade? Can the city of

Buffalo, New York trademark or Western New York surrounding region, Buffalo and Agra? Can we trade

mark like the event that meat raffle events? I want people. We should be the meat raffle capital

of the United States. When you want to do your meat raffle in Des Moines, Iowa or in whatever,

I don't know, pick, pick a, you want to go to Sarasota, Florida. I was just there for that

everything Buffalo event. How about we do everything Buffalo? You come here. If you want to like do a

meat raffle, you got to come to Buffalo to do the best meat raffle. You're not doing it there,

because you know how to do it right. We do it right right here. Loved it. What a great, great time.

So that was one thing that happened this weekend. Hit me up, man. Go to go to go to go to

South sports media of a little website there and you can go in a little, literally contact me and go,

hey, you want to MC our meat raffle? There you go. You can, oh, I might, I might come to your,

I might just crash your meat raffle party because it was so cool. That's, I just want to be a part

of it. It's really fun. And then speaking of social. So then last night, I promise I'll talk sports.

Um, good morning. Sal Kappaccio with you. North town automotive extra point show. So then last

night, I got a serious question about the Sabers and our social media behavior when it comes to that

everybody. I got to tell you what happened. You watched the game last night, Dan? You watched the

game, right? Okay. So watch the game last night. Does anybody really feel like the Sabers played

really well after two periods? I don't, I didn't think they played well. I thought that there were,

they played great five on five. But you know, they give a couple of power play goals. And

you watched the game, right, Dan? Oh, by far. Okay. So at the end of the second period,

I'm going to tell you what I tweeted. Okay. You ready? Here we go.

I wrote at the end of the second period, feel like a lot of things that have been going the Sabers way

just haven't tonight. A couple great looks. They didn't cash in loose pucks. They didn't get

cleanly saves a full period left, but maybe not their night. Is there anything really wrong with that?

I got dragged. I mean, dragged by so many people because they started coming back. You have no

faith. Yeah. How's this look now? Colt takes a spooze. Yeah. Dude, if any of you thought

that they were playing a really good game and they were caching in an opportunities,

yes, five on five, they were fine. They were down two goals. They didn't cash in on a couple

opportunities. Also, an open net, you know, didn't go his way. Doesn't mean I hated the team.

Doesn't mean I don't think they can't come back and win. I just said maybe not their night. Maybe,

maybe not the word maybe is in there and literally says a full period left. Holy cow, a lot of you

got really mad. And then I followed that up by kind of telling on myself and said,

I quote tweeted myself and said, narrator, maybe it was their night after all. And then, I mean,

they wound up losing. Can we just kind of relax on the old like, it, it, folks, Twitter slash X,

it was made for, it was made for like real time stream of conscious thoughts. That's what it was

made for. It's a real time stream of conscious thought. LOL. How's that look now, buddy? Ha ha ha.

It looked fine. I told you I didn't think that maybe it might not be their night the way they

were playing. It's not a big deal. But I guess it's a big deal because I get it. People are fans.

They want to see the team win. I wanted the team to win. I'm invested. And I love the fact they

came back and I never thought they couldn't come back. I just wrote, maybe it's not their night.

The way things are going. It just kind of felt like one of those nights where just not your night,

right? You're not getting the things that you normally get to go your way. So, but it got me to this.

This is why I always say, thank God. Thank God. I do not even look at much less tweet during

bills games. I can't because I'm working. I'm on the sidelines, right? And I hear stories about

what it was like during a bills game on Twitter when things are going good and bad, right? I get it.

This is why I like this. It would not be good for me. Now, I know me. Maybe a lot of you love it.

Maybe you do it. Like, no, you got to be into it and all that years ago. This is years ago,

like 10 years ago when Syracuse basketball was actually pretty good. Okay. I was watching a game one

night. And I remember that like in my Syracuse kind of community on Twitter, I was getting mad at

somebody said something. They were going to mad at me. And I spent more time dealing with that

than watching the game. And I made a conscious decision that night. It's like 10 years ago,

I said, I am no longer going to tweet while I'm watching Syracuse basketball games. I'm going to

put the computer and phone down and literally watch the game. And then at half time, I have a

couple of thoughts, maybe, and then just put it down again and watch the game. I want to watch

the game and enjoy it. I can't enjoy the game when I'm just going through the tweets. I can't

enjoy the game when I'm reading all this when I feel like I have to respond, which I don't,

that's on me. I get it. That happened last night. Like, I'm like, why did I even do this?

Why did I even give any sort of thought on the sabers after two periods when

the reaction, just because they started to come back from people was to make fun of me or LL

me for a completely reasonable take. So my question is, and I wanted to ask you, Dan, because

I know sometimes you're here for bills games. I know, you know, sometimes you're not here.

Like, what is the difference? Is it better or worse? And I know that the sabers are finally good

now. So we can't have a great, like, length of comparison here. I totally understand.

Is it worse or better during sabers games or bills games? Sabers Twitter and bills Twitter,

like in your experience, do you know? During the drive, I think Sabers Twitter was just kind of like,

let's have fun. Let's have it. It was kind of dormant. Yeah. Do any right. I agree with that. So

now though that they're good and people are the heightened anxiety of winning and the pressure

of winning, I get it. Safety with the bills. Like the back and forth, I guess I'm asking for you

from you. Just just hit me up on Twitter, by the way, at cell sports if you can. If you want to

call who talked about meat raffles and Buffalo, but Sabers Twitter, bills Twitter, like it can,

it can be a great place. Well, that all can be. I'm not here to tell you it's not. But man,

that showed me last night, like why I'm, why I don't do that during games. It's okay to have

a stream of conscious thought to say, don't like the way they're playing. Maybe they're not

their night. I think it's okay. Apparently a lot of you didn't. And I made fun of myself after.

Okay. Let's go to Evan and Williamsville is going to start us off today. Hi, Evan. What's up,

man? Sal, what's up, brother? How you doing? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. So I'm calling about

that point exactly because I guess I'll start with a question and then and lay lead into the

discussion with you for a second. But you know, in your opinion, have you seen a lot of this,

this tumultuous divide of traditional longstanding drought sufferers versus the bandwagon fans all

over all over. I don't know about the bandwagon part. I think what's happening to, in my opinion,

Evan, I could be wrong on this. I think the what you want to call bandwagon are still a lot of

the same fans. They just never wanted to give a voice because they just were either checked out or

upset or frustrated. And now they feel like they want to give a voice because they're excited in

some way. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. I'm with you. And by no means am I one of these

gatekeepers? I'm just laughing. I'm an observer more than anything. Am I right? These people,

yeah, absolutely. You're right. And I've got friends, you know, I'm watching on Twitter right now.

I'm not really an active tweeter, but I'm watching them give opinions now, right? And they're getting

called out left and right on this is another bandwagon. It's another person. They weren't there for

the drought. They weren't season ticket holders. Well, you know, a lot of us were and we suffered

through the drought. And I'm embarrassed to say this is the year that I gave up my season tickets,

which I'm ultimately regretting obviously now. But, you know, I'm watching this this divide of

were the true fans and you're the bandwagoners. And at this point, like I actually saw your tweet

last night and then the drag through the mud that followed. It's like, man, like it's okay for

the sabers they have an off night. Everybody doesn't have to jump, you know, it's okay. And it looked

that way. They looked flat. I also haven't I also didn't say they looked terrible. I can't believe

it. This is a mirage. I said, Hey, maybe not their night. There's still a period left.

And you know what fair take, right? They they looked that way. They looked that way until they

turned it on, which is the beauty of this team. Yeah. But it's it's the divide. It's this Twitter,

you know, Civil War of Saber fans right now that led to that reaction to you. And I think it's

crazy. I think it's awesome that the sabers are amazing. I think it's great that they have the

support that they have. I think at this point, everybody just needs to shut up and enjoy the ride.

And I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about the responders, right? Let's enjoy this and

let's have fun together. And like nobody needs to drag somebody through the mud because they're

calling it an off night. It's going to happen. That's right. And how about this one? I'm going to

give you one here. Matt, thanks for the call. I want to read this to you. This is I got this.

This is somebody named Matt. Somebody named Matt tweeted me yesterday. Okay.

And he now this is right after the tuck goal to start the game. I tweet out the wagon rolling early.

Matt says, and I love this tweet. He says, I've been a diehard bills fan from central PA my whole

life, but grew up a diehard pens fan since that's all I had on TV growing up. Is it acceptable for

me to jump on the bandwagon so happy to see the sabers finally finding some success? Okay. You're

all going to have different opinions on this. Here's my take on this. I'm not a gatekeeper

of fandom. Just like Evan said, he's not a gatekeeper of fandom. This team is good. You want to jump on

and say, I want to root for this team on watch this team. Go ahead. No one should ever tell you

who you're kidding at what I what I would like to think is kind of cheesy and stupid and whatever

is if you're going to jump from like good team to good team. Yeah, like the lightning now. Yeah,

like the Panthers. Yeah. No. Man, you're from Buffalo. You're a bills fan. But man, you watch the

penguins for a long time. You're in the drought. And you're like, man, my hometown team is good.

I'm going to root for them. Great. To me, welcome aboard. I'm not the guy to tell you no.

So Matt from last night, I'm not the guy to tell you. No, I think it's not. I say good by me.

You don't need approval from anyone for whatever team you want to root for. Why wouldn't we want more

people like kind of embracing and enjoying it. Now I get it. This goes back to the meat raffle

point. We can tie these in meat raffles and sabers. Tie them in. I kind of want the meat raffle

thing to be only our thing, right? It's like when a band starts getting good, you like a band,

right? You like a band. Hey, I really like this band. I've been watching them. Not a lot of people

love them. They don't know about them. But you and small little community, then the band starts to

get good. And all these other people are like, yeah, love that band. Like, hey, man, I was here first.

I get it. Like there's a pride in that. No doubt about it, right? So I totally understand that

point of it. But man, if you if you enjoy watching hockey and the Buffalo sabers of your jam right

now and you're from Buffalo, you're not whatever, how many bills fans have you met that became

bills fans because of Josh Allen? I don't know. You want to call them bandwagoners. I just think

it's people who enjoy entertaining entertainment and winning and, you know, it's okay.

You know who you are. You know who your friends are. What they're rooting for. I'm not here to

tell you know. So Matt again, tweeted me last night and you could find that if you want.

Is it acceptable for me to jump on the bandwagon? He's from Buffalo as a bills fan but

have been rooting for the penguins for a while because he lived in Pittsburgh and even said,

oh no, and maybe somebody else I think said it with they were born into it or something.

But either way, it's all good with me. Anyway, what's some, what is like the,

is it Bill's Twitter, Sabers Twitter kind of works with all this.

Oh, Brandon says he's relocated to Virginia. They have meat raffles there. I do not like this.

Brandon, you're ruining my, my morning here by this. Not really. I'm glad it's for a good cause

and it's cool but. Tage Thompson is the real MVP on Twitter says, even when the team was bad,

Sabers Twitter has been one of the most toxic things in existence. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I've heard

that. I do think like there's been more, I do think there's more of a polarization on Sabers Twitter

than they're on the, on Bill's Twitter from my experience. But again, I want to just totally tell

you and freely admit and fully admit. I do not, I am not on Bill's Twitter during games.

But I do see it obviously other than games, right? And I'm a big part of it. You come to me and

read things that I write. Um, so I, I get that. But I, I would agree from my experience

that the toxicity is more polarizing. But I also think that might come from the fact that they

were so bad in the drought and everything and debating, tanking, debating players and not winning.

Right? It just gets you to a bad spot. You feel bad. And you're just not winning. You're frustrated.

So maybe that will change. I don't know. Oh, something last night though. 803 05 50 is the telephone

number to call. So today on the program, we're going to have my guy Josh Reed, WIBB TV channel four

sports director. Uh, I think Josh attended, attended some of the games this weekend. We'll find

out. But I know he's, uh, invested in the college basketball tournament that was here, the NCAA

March Madness tournament that was here. We'll talk about that Ryan Vandermark, the bills not

matching the offer sheet for him, where the bills go this off season. And, um, I don't know,

find out here. I don't know. Josh has been to a meat wrap. Well, I'm guessing. I'm going to ask him

going to call him up and do that 11 a.m. Paul Hamilton as long as Paul, his flight should be

landing soon. He's coming back to Buffalo. When he told me last time, like, Hey, can you join me

tomorrow or you're like probably still flying back? So like, no, my flight lands at 1030. And I'm

like, I got to find out like what, what time do you leave this morning? These three hours behind.

So I get, I could understand though. Now I'm trying to do the math. I guess it works out. But I'll

find out. Paul at 11. Thanks for hanging with me today. Sal Kapacho in the North town on

a motivation point show. How would you describe yourself? Fun, sporty, bold. If that's the case,

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Office Ladies. Just because we finish rewatching the office does not mean we're going anywhere.

Every Wednesday will be sharing even more exclusive stories from the office and our friendship

with brand new guests. Plus, you can revisit all the Office Ladies rewatch episodes every Monday

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Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. Sabers live is presented by Sacka resorts and

casinos. Nothing else comes close. Eleven games to go in the regular season for the Sabers,

they are still first in the Atlantic second in the conference, fourth overall, and

33, six and three in the last 42. A lot of streaks continuing. Marty's here as well.

I think that's a streak continuing, right? That is a streak continuing and another streak that's

continuing is meek and confuse on Monday morning. You say 11 games to go. I look down on my paper.

Are you still trying to figure out a win and win a peg that didn't happen? Yes, that's right.

On December 1st, that was not that that happened here in Buffalo by the way. It was December 11th

in Vancouver, but I'm looking down on my sheet. I'm like, wait, the Sabers have only played 70.

I'm looking at the LA sheet. I got to go to Anaheim. There was a game yesterday.

There was. Let's not forget. It was a entertaining game. It's a six, five,

overtime loss. Sabers battle back in the third period. Not the best of games. They've played

much better. Like Lindy Ruff said, you're in a position to win. You get a point. You move on

and then you focus on Wednesday boss and being in your building. 95 points they have right now.

How many more do they need before an X gets beside them? Well, it's interesting because

technically they still need 13 to get an X because of the way it is, but it's still too far.

It's not baseball, so I wouldn't look at it that way. Exactly. So I'm going to say

they, when they get to 101, they will have earned themselves an X.

That's three more wins with whatever is going to happen around the league. Maybe I'll say 104,

not 101, 104. I'm going to say they need nine more points to earn themselves at that moment

and X will happen, but it's not going to take 104 to make the playoffs in East. I think it's going

to still be 97, 98. So technically another three, four points should guarantee you a playoff spot.

Who was the trip MVP after they went 301? George Bacock.

Why are you yelling? Maybe Adi can break down a little bit. George Bacock, no, I just funny enough,

like I come in in the morning. We come in here at Keybank Center and there's a few players that

are going to go on the ice. Some guys are re-abbing. Some guys are jumping on the ice because they

want the extra ice. There's a lot of bodies on this team. So I think of the trainers,

right? That got in very late or early this morning, got things organized. So I think of them all

the time. But I will say my team MVP, I want to say, I want to say Benson could be one of them.

I thought he was really good. I think Tate Thompson at some moments of really good and some moments

of okay. So I'm going to go with Benson. I would say Dalline and Carrick would be my two choices.

But Benson would be right there for sure. Obviously. I thought Dalline was fantastic.

The really good trip. Obviously the team goes 301 and now you come home for four. Boston,

Detroit, Seattle and the Islanders, including back-to-back games this weekend, which again is

often interesting when you get a Friday and Saturday night. We had recently Saturday. Sunday,

that was the epic Tampa conclusion to the weekend. You also get Boston on Wednesday, which is

after they host Toronto tomorrow. So how do you think they'll use their gold tending before arriving in

Buffalo? So there's always that debate. Like do you play your number one against Toronto, which

would be Jeremy Swaman, the first game of the back-to-back and really solidified that win because

you need wins. You need points. And then do you roll the dice with Corpus Allor, your backup

goalie on Wednesday night in Buffalo? Like the Ottawa Senators are in the only game in the NHL

tonight. They play tonight and tomorrow. And they need wins. I think the Ottawa Senators could go

lean or so on mark both games. They've done it a week and a go. Not this best weekend in the one

before where they played lean or so on mark Saturday Sunday. Both games were at home though. So that

changes maybe the dynamic or the thought process. I think the Boston Bruins are in a position now

to being okay with Sen. You're going to go swim in the first game and we may see Corpus Allor on

Wednesday night or you play swim in both depending on what happens on Tuesday. Yeah, I'd be shocked if

they played them both, but they are still only two ahead of Detroit in the wild card race. And

it's incredible just how much that is changing and the Islanders felt that for 24 hours. Now the

Red Wings have been feeling it. There's only one game in the NHL tonight. It's Ottawa and the

Rangers and the Senators are now four points back at the Islanders with two in hand for the final

wild card spots. So certainly they are in a much better position, although not yet where they want

to be. Anytime goal scorers, congratulations. You have caught me again. Yeah, well, it's tied.

That's what I said. You have caught me again. But I want to catch you in the value. That's where

the money's at. Then then make a legitimate pick for once this season. Come on, Zach Benson was

a plus 350. Well, 350 is pretty high for you. Yeah, for me, it's not a chalk. I've been sticking

around them plus 150, 175, 200, maybe. But I and that was like, Zach Benson is not the guy that's

going out to score every game. And he had scored an empty net goal in LA. And I'm like, oh, maybe

that line keeps going, right? Or maybe gets elevated to play with Thompson and Tuck because they've

been switching Krebs and Benson a lot in those games. But no, that was a really, really nice play

by Dallin. Once again, that got Zach Benson to get the Sabers ahead five four in the third period.

Tuck ruined it for me because his penalty prevented the likeliest of opportunities, which was Krebs

getting a good shot at the empty net as opposed to being in a six on four situation. Yeah, because

Krebs won't go PK six on four, but we'd be out there for the six on five again. So you're right.

Thank you, Alex. I love you. Now are the Sabers in your opinion still the odds on favorite? Sure,

should be the odds on favorite to win the division. They're four up on Tampa, lightning of two games

in hand. And they have one head to head meeting left. I'm going to say yes. From me, you know,

I always love looking at games in hand when you have 30 games left to play, 25, 20 games. But when

you're getting down to 11 games left to play, like how about points in the bank and right now,

the Sabers are four points up and you're saying like, no, I know Tampa's got two games in hand,

but those are, you know, you got to go and win them. You got to battle. So I think the Sabers to me,

I would consider being the favorite to win the Atlantic division. I'd say at minus one

10. That's that they have a lot of people on their side. They have a lot of people on their side.

And I've been saying to everybody, like catch the teams in front of you. When the Sabers were

in a wildcard spot, it was about catching Detroit, catching Montreal, catching Tampa. And the last

little bit here has been focusing on Carolina for first in the Eastern Conference. I don't want to

say I'm dropping that out, but really like the focus is in the division. That's where you're going

to be playing in the playoffs. That's where all my advantage would come into play. If you end up

playing the Carolina Hurricanes for the Conference Finals, Eastern Conference Finals, I don't really

care what the all my advantage goes to at that point. That is just above and beyond what the

expectations were like three months ago. Sammy said Benson was plus 480 yesterday. So you may be

paying attention. It moved. Was it 480 on the pregame? I know. Okay. Sammy's won. See again,

way better value for me. So thank you, producer Sam. Well, you just saw the Sabers at plus

1900 to win the cup. Who do you think is still the favorite there? I'm going to say Colorado is

probably, you know, the odds on favorite the way that they've built themselves as the best

contender at the start of the season. I would have Dallas star second, and I know Tampa Bay

second in Carolina is third right now. Tampa Bay is plus 370 Carolina plus 550. And Dallas,

I've just about the same odds as the Vegas Golden Knights, which I really don't get that. Dallas

has been one of the hottest team here over the last 18 to 20 games. So I would move Dallas up to

number two in those odds. And I would actually move the Sabers closer to what Tampa and Carolina

would be. I think that's great value on the Sabers at plus 1900. It's probably injury concerns

about Dallas. They've been doing all of this recent running up of the points without Ranton and

Hince. And obviously, you know, they're still out, but Miko's making some strides. So what we'll

see, it's actually a little hard to believe that they would be that far behind Colorado.

In the odds based on how close they were in the standings this week and beating them again. But

it's also incredible to see that Buffalo is tied in odds with the Edmonton Orders. And when

you look at, well, maybe it's looking at the path, right? Because if you are in that Pacific

division, maybe you have an easier path to the Western conference finals and then a path to the

NHL Seneca final. So maybe, but I mean, I can't even compare those two teams. I think Buffalo

is a much better team than the Edmonton Orders. So the value is not in what you think the team is,

is I'll likely are they the path to winning a Stanley Cup? And Edmonton's taken the path

in consecutive years. So obviously, they know it well. And Buffalo doesn't know it at all. But I

do know that Buffalo was better than Edmonton in overtime on December 9th, which continues to be

our reference point. So however, the Oilers might have made the most Connor McDavid might be making

the most news consistently in the NHL this year. First of all, after Saturday's game, I think

he said, we're lucky to be in the Pacific. It's a pillow fight. It's a pillow fight. Yeah.

Yeah. But he also, after losing to Tampa, went out of his way to praise the lightning and their

system and how great they are coached. And then wouldn't answer a question about what the Oilers

could do. And simply said, you can ask Nobber. Yeah. He goes, that's a coaching question. You can

ask Nobber. And I'm like, what? Yeah. So another fire storm, because Drysaddle did this before

the Olympics. And now, McDavid has done it after the Olympics, questioning their ability to play

a team game. By the way, Drysaddle is doing media in Germany. I've laid here. He was at

Bayern Munich Stadium. You know, he's going to see a doctor over there, the same doctor that

saw Austin Matthews last year and whatnot. And he said, I hope they have a run so I can join the

team again. So this is not like first round, like thinking like later in the playoffs, if he even

returns this year. Okay. Chris Baker is coming up here from Sabers prospects. We'll dive in

obviously on everything that has happened so far from Buffalo's long list of prospects that include

college players who now know what they're up against in the tournament. And also those who are

still in Rochester or someone who have not yet made their way to college. So it's been a while

since we had Bakes on looking forward to jumping into that. We're also making you get to work.

Oh, I see. You see you've crossed some things out already. So did it backwards.

That's okay. Marty ranks the Sabers first round opponents. Yes.

From what vantage point? So I'm going to rank him from the team that I least likely want to

play against to the team that I most likely would like to play against. And we're ranking nine

teams right now. We're not taking Tampa and Carolina into the conversation because it doesn't

look like they will play Tampa in the first round. It seems highly unlikely. And Carolina

neither. Like you could see Pittsburgh and Columbus could fall to a wall of cards. So I'm putting

them in there. So nine teams. Washington was the cut off by the way. That we are going to rank

now as first round opponents. And well, the least. I would say the least team or the team I would

want to face least right now is the Boston Bruin. How would you describe yourself? Fun, sporty,

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podcasts. So Boston is number nine. I feel like Boston as potentially one of the two best gold

tenders in the Eastern Conference, Vesla Eskibi and one and Jeremy Swim and being the other.

I know Sorokin's there too, but Pasinac, McAvoy, Geeky, they've got they've got a solid team

and people are going to say, what Boston? I don't want to see Boston in the first round.

So they're ninth right now as a team that I would want to see in the first round. We will see

Boston here on Wednesday. The Sabre's a one one and one against Boston so far this year.

Eight. The second team I wouldn't want to see in the first round of playoffs is the Blue Jackets.

The Columbus Blue Jackets who have been so hot, they are extremely physical. They've got a

defenseman again in Zach Orinsky that can change the game just like Rasmus Dalline.

Not as much concerned about their gold tending, but I think with recency bias seeing what they've

done of late, Columbus is eight. And the Jackets lost yesterday just the third time in regulation

under Rick bonus. Yeah, and bonus has had has a ton of playoff experience obviously.

Seventh, they're not even in the playoffs right now, but the Ottawa Senators, I think they are a

team that could cause a major havoc in the playoffs. So I've got them seventh right now.

All Mark could change a game. You've got a great group of offensive defenseman. You got Brady

Kichok. So Ottawa right now seventh. Well, Buffalo's first one of the year was that massive eight

four tilt here on home ice and they still have one game to go against the Senators. It's in Ottawa

after this homestand concludes to kick off the month of February. It'll be an April second game

against the SENS. Who's number six on your list? Six is the Montreal Canadians. I think that if

you played a Canadians on the Saturday, you know, Cole Coffield's going to score 12 goals in that night

because he has been hot. You know, they're gold tending still a question mark, but I think that

Suzuki, Coffield, Slavkowski, Lane Hudson, they've got enough to make these games

high scoring. So the Canadians are six right now. Saw them a ton in the month of January. Did the

Sabers and did well, but did stumble on the last one because of the Coffield come back in the

third. Yeah. Fifth, the New York Islanders, Ilya Sorokin is going to be a problem. If he is

the rolling, the way that we know he can roll. And I just feel like the Islanders, they

they don't wow you, but they can do enough to cause issues in the playoffs. So right now we're

looking at like matchups that I would like somehow, like the Islanders are fine with me.

Four to go. Who do you got a four? The Pittsburgh Penguins. I mean, I get it's been a good year

and they've dealt with adversity. Malkin, a suspension, Crosby injury, whatever. Their gold

tending is still a question mark. So the penguins are fine, but I feel like the Sabers despite

losing to them before the Olympics, they turned it around. I think that Pittsburgh is a good playoff

team, but doesn't scare me right now. Yeah, they would be probably where Boston is on if I was doing

this list. Anyway, on your top three. See, I like that difference of opinion. I think that's great.

I don't see it that way. Number three, the Detroit Red Wings. I get it right now. They don't have

Dylan Larkin. They don't like the same. They added just a ball. Actually, we see Larkin here by the

end of the week. I think so too. I think he started to skate again. I think he'll be in the line

up as soon as he can, but I'm going with the Detroit Red Wings number three. They just, they're fine.

They just don't have a lot of, they don't scare me. Let's just put it that way. They don't scare me.

Does anyone else scare you? Probably not. We've moved from the scariest team on. So I'm going to say,

okay, these two teams, I don't think we'll make the playoffs. So I'm going to go to Washington

capitals as number two. They do have Ovechkin and Wilson and they have Logan Thompson that can change

games, but I don't think the Washington capitals will make the playoffs. If somehow they got in,

I wouldn't mind seeing them in the first round. So I've got Washington and

number one on my list as it is right now. The Philadelphia Flyers. How can you be so wrong on such a

short list? Like Philadelphia should be closer to where Boston and where I would have Pittsburgh.

Honestly, they're nine two and one. They've shed all the crap that they did this year that they

did in previous years. They actually look like a legit team now. They look okay. I mean,

Flodar and Erson and Ristilainen. Okay, wait a minute. You put it that way. Mitch Cobb and they

don't have shootouts in the playoffs for Mitch Cobb and Zegris to get after you. So I'm looking

at it and I'm like, you know, Philly, they won't make the playoffs and they don't scare me. So I think

that within a week, because we're going to do this every Monday before the playoffs. And I think

we're going to lose the flyers and the capitals very quick and that race. Really? Wow. I mean,

Philadelphia is now just like Ottawa. They're in that position where you look at games and

with the islanders like they, I don't know. Here's the crazy part. What does Philly have? They have,

they have three games with Detroit left. That is insane. That could help that could help a lot of teams.

Philly goes out more. You know, it's likely to happen three point three point three point. You want

to bet on the shootout shootout shootout. The flyers have Columbus next, which is again, I mean, it's

then they have Chicago, which of course the Sabers still have some Western conference games too with

Seattle, Chicago and Dallas before. But the flyers, like I think Columbus has the hardest schedule. The

flyers, the flyers close though with Carolina and Montreal. So that'll be super interesting if it is

still nail biting time for the flyers at that point. I think we got to run here. Yeah, but quickly

tankaton.com used to be a site that I would go to to do like playoff, you know, draft lottery

whatever. But they do have a remaining schedule strength. Boston as the hardest schedule left,

Columbus second, the New York Islanders third. Like those three teams are in a battle and they have

the top three hardest. Yeah, but like a month ago, you told me the Sabers did and they're 12,

1 and 1 in the last 14. So I'm not sure I'm not sure I put a lot of stock. They did really well.

They exceeded expectations. Yeah. All right. Dazzle disturbed going to go on pause because we're

going to hit Chris Baker when we come back on Sabers live. Of course, we want you here in the building

as this homestand kicks off on Wednesday night. It's a four game stand and then

take the opportunity to see them now. Seem in the playoffs. Be in the seats next year. Guarantee

your seats for the playoffs by joining us full season ticket membership for the 26 27 season.

You can join today and get playoff priority access. Don't miss out. Go to sabers.com slash

membership. We're back after this. How would you describe yourself? Fun, sporty, bold. If that's the

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along or would you say you're more smooth, sleek, refined. If so, there's the Kia K4 sedan.

Calm, confident and ever so modern. Two personalities, two available turbocharged ways forward.

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