Sabres Out of Basement Thanks to Improved Play w/ Paul Hamilton | The Jeremy and Joe Show

Sabres Out of Basement Thanks to Improved Play w/ Paul Hamilton | The Jeremy and Joe Show

Dan Dun leave you on the call. Sabres win. They beat Carolina yesterday and uh look good doing so. Joining us on the phone line here to chat about it is Paul Hamilton. His appearance brought to you by Railax. Railax, we got this. Paul, good morning. I’ll tell you uh there’s a lot to get to, but perhaps the most surprising thing for me is how Jason Zucker did not has not looked like a guy that didn’t eat for a week and a half. No. Right. Like we’d heard he’d been sick and he had a viral thing and he hadn’t eaten anything solid. He looks fine. Yeah. No, and he he came back that was supposed to be his comeback game on Sunday, but he came back on Friday and uh had a goal and an assist if I’m not mistaken that in that game and or had three points in that game actually now that I think of it. Everyone had points in that game. Yeah, Friday. I think he had three points in that game. So, I think he’s had four in the two games and uh has looked just fine as you said. uh he hasn’t looked run down even like late in the game or anything like that and uh you know he and Benson uh have had the desired effect that you would have hoped they would uh coming back into the lineup. So Paul it’s four out of five now and you can talk about last games like last night’s game specifically Friday too but in this stretch I mean it feels like they’re not just getting lucky with the wins. I mean, if we take the Calgary game out in the middle that the wins, they look like they are they are performing better than their opponent. And a lot of these teams they’ve played lately are either playoff teams or teams that are in first place. Yeah. And hey, thanks to the Buffalo Sabres, the Calgary Flames are winning hockey games. They they beat Dallas the other night and they won again last night. Uh so uh yeah, at Vancouver, I think they beat last night. So, all of a sudden, Calgary is uh starting to win some hockey games after beating the Buffalo Sabres. So, maybe that wasn’t quite as embarrassing as I thought it was when it happened. Um, but that’s the thing. I mean, look at what they, you know, they they beat Chicago by six goals. They beat Carolina by three goals. So, that’s plus nine. They’re still minus four in goal differential. That’s how bad they were as far as being the worst team in the Eastern Conference, not only record-wise, but in goal differential. And um and for the first time since November 5th, they are out of the Eastern Conference seller by points percentage. Buffalo is now at 500. The New York Rangers are 478. And the Toronto Maple Leafs are now the worst team in the Eastern Conference at 477. I did not have that on my bingo card uh for for November 24th. Um so uh you know next uh next up now and and that’s you know what guys that’s how you got to look at when you got to leaprog everybody. You can’t look at it like I am and saying well they got to get over eight teams. No, you got to look at it who’s next. All right Toronto they’re the team in front of us. Let’s catch them. You know, once you catch Toronto, all right, Rangers, let’s catch them. And now they’ve caught the Rangers. Next up, Washington Capitals at 5:45. You set your sights on them and and do it one at a time. It’s too much of a a chore when you look at it and say, “We got to leaprog eight teams.” I mean, you just got to look at it one at a time and and and you know, start trying to make your way up the standings that way. Paul Hamilton joining us chatting about the Sabres and their win over the Hurricanes and also the Blackhawks from uh from Friday as well. You know, Paul, it’s it’s a team that had they’ve had their trouble scoring. I know that that would you know, the big thing was they were going to get better defensively and they didn’t feel like it would uh affect their scoring. Now, these last couple games they’ve had that touch. Um have you noticed anything different in the way that they are playing to get this scoring touch back? Well, they’re working hard. You know, they’re you know, you they’re trying to compete in front of the net and they’re trying to compete in the offensive zone to win battles. If you don’t win any battles, you probably aren’t going to score too many goals. And really, you know, in the in the games that they don’t play well in, it’s not like, well, you know, they played really well, but they just didn’t win the hockey game. It’s they didn’t play well. They they didn’t battle. Um, and that’s the thing Lindy Ruff really really was upset about at the Calgary game is he he he looked at he he went and looked at the 5050 battles and he said I I’ll be honest with you, we won 30% of them. He goes, “You’re not going to win hockey games if you only win 30% of the battles.” He goes, “There’s no way.” And that was what he really really impressed upon his team is, you know, you you have you can’t let the other team come out on 70% of the two battles or the 50% battles and expect you’re going to you’re going to win the hockey game because you’re just not. And um that’s what they improved in those two games. And interestingly enough too, you know, and I knew they’d beat I remember they had beaten Carolina twice last year at home. I didn’t realize they now have beaten Carolina five straight times at home. Um because you you just you think of Carolina and you think you think of problems. Yeah. But really if you think of Carolina, it’s problems in Carolina. It’s something like 12 games since they’ve had a win or you know I’m trying to think back when that the loss in Carolina. I think it was 12 or it’s in that area. Um, you know that they haven’t won there, but they have been able to beat them five times in a row here. And you know, the the key to beating them is being patient. If you’re patient and don’t get all excited and don’t sit there and say, you know, we got to win this, you know, you know, the game’s in the neutral zone. This sucks. we, you know, if you just be patient with them and don’t play their don’t fall into their trap because that’s what they beat you. You get all and then you make mistakes and then the puck’s in your net. And right now, just with nine goals in one game and four goals in another, they’re ninth in goal scoring at 3.18. They’re number nine in the NHL. They’re right behind the Vegas Golden Knights at 3.19. So, um they’re climbing the goals four standings here. Uh and trying to get back maybe where they were last year. Uh that’s about where they were last year at scoring goals. Paul, was the goal that Beck Malenstein scored yesterday the the most beautiful goal from an unlikely source you’ve ever seen? No, because as soon as I scored it, I go, is is Dan Dunle yelling Mayday yet? That’s the Brad Mayal. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that is absolutely the Brad May goal. Except Brad May undressed Ray Bourke, right? Uh Melenstein, give him credit. He knew Aaho was back there. It was a it was a forward. So he knew that maybe he could pull something sweet off uh when when you’ve got a forward back there. So, you know, he he, you know, made the move, made Aaho look silly. Uh in Brad Mate’s case, he made a Hall of Famer Ray Bourke look silly. Um but uh yeah, I immediately thought of the Mayday goal. It it was almost the only difference was it came from the other side of the rink. Um but um yeah, it was just one of those goals that you’re not expecting uh Beck Malenstein to score is only his second goal of the year. But um at least in Beck Malenstein’s case when he doesn’t chip it at all and that’s what you’re looking for him to chip in. I mean, he’s not a 20 goal scorer in any stretch of the imagination, but in the Calgary game, if if you had to pick a guy who did compete, it was him. Him and Krebs. I I I just remember they were they were winning battles. When Lindy said, “We only won 30% of the battles.” I bet those two won most of them. Um, so he’s always in the fray, you know, and and uh he gets scoring chances at times and just can’t capitalize on them. But he’s around the net, he’s around uh the forch check. Um he’s using his speed to get in on the forche and and all those things that Lindy Ruff is looking for from the whole team. Uh but uh you know, so as Lindy Ruff said, he goes, when he scored that goal, he goes, “You should have seen the bench.” He goes, the the his teammates went wild. He goes, they just were so happy for him that he was able to contribute in an offensive way like that. Paul Hamilton joining us here on the Sabres win over Carolina. What’s the plan in goal going forward? Well, I’d be pretty surprised if it wasn’t Lukan in on Wednesday. I mean, he his two wins in a row. Um, in the in the nine to3 win over Chicago, he was fine, but I didn’t think he was great. I didn’t like the second goal on him. um you know he g he did give up three um but uh you know he made the big save on the big player you know on a breakaway and he made the big save just like Ellis did in the in the big win um that he backs stopped where Ellis stopped Heyman five seconds into the game he had a breakaway within the first minute Doc came in on him I think it was the minute five and he made a big save there and And if Chicago scores there, who knows if the game’s different if it’s one- nothing Chicago uh right there. So that was a that was a huge save. And Lindy Ruff has been talking about as you’ve heard me for years now. It’s I I look at the big save at the big time more than I do anything else in a goalender. And that’s what Lucinan did when he went on that 30-game streak uh a couple of years ago at the end of the year. He was making the big save at the big time. And I remember talking about it a lot that, you know, when they needed a big save, he made it. And he did that in in that uh game, which I think earned him this start because it was funny. Um, you know, we were we were trying to figure out who the goalender was going to be and uh Mike Harrington thought it’d be Lion. I thought it’d be Ellis because I thought Ellis only had one bad game in the NHL out of five and it was the last one. And I thought they’d might want to get him in net pretty quick to see how he reacts to it. And so that I I really was convinced that he would be the guy in goal for this game. But just like when he said when Ellis was getting those starts and Ellis was making the big saves, I think Lindy Ruff thought against Chicago when it mattered before it got out of hand. Lucinan made the big saves at the big time. Um he’s talked about that breakaway save. He goes, “That’s that’s a 5-3 game. If all of a sudden the the Hawks score, it’s 5-4.” You know, Buffalo hadn’t pulled away yet. Um, and now now what happens? You know, do they get full of confidence? So, um, I think that’s why he earned the start on Sunday and he played very well. Although, you know what, the 134 shots I don’t think told you what was happening in the third period. Carolina is a is a shot volume team. I mean, they average 33.7 shots per game. So, they they throw the puck at the net from anywhere. And that’s kind of what they were doing in the third. And Lucin was doing his job. He was making the saves, keeping the rebounds around him, freezing the puck. But if you think about it, how many great a chances did Carolina really have in the third period? The Sabres are keeping them out to the outskirts. you know, shots from the point, um, shots from the sidewall. And, um, so I never thought to myself, even though the shots were 13 to four, that, uh, oh, the Sabres are really getting themselves into trouble here. It’s only three to one. Uh, this doesn’t look good. Carolina’s going to win this game. I never felt that way. Even though, you know, they had some shot volume in that period. Paul Hamilton joining us. His appearance brought to you by Relax Honda. RAX, we got this. Next up, Pittsburgh. and uh you know beat a Penguins team that’s had a a great start to the year. They’re not expected to, but here they are having a great start. So um Paul will be uh eagerly anticipating that game with Pittsburgh. Yeah. And Buffalo has a oneame winning streak on the road. They’re but they’re five and two on the road. And that’s the unfortunate part of is they’ve played 14 home games and they have a pretty good eight four and two record at home, but they’ve only played eight road games. So the road games are coming. Yeah. And going to find a way to get some wins there. Yeah. I know they’ll be back home on Friday and then kind of a goofy backtoback. You have a home game on Friday and a road game in Minnesota. Uh and then you know they they they they start that really wild road trip in in December. It starts in Philadelphia and then it’s Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Seattle. So that should tell us a lot. I mean, if they’re if they continue to climb up the standings this week, um, but then they go on that road trip, I think that’s going to tell us a lot, uh, in early December. Thanks, Paul. Take care, guys.

Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase are joined by Buffalo Sabres beat reporter Paul Hamilton to discuss the Sabres win over Carolina on Sunday, and their improved play overall! The guys start off by discussing the Sabres winning 4 of their last 5, and making massive improvements. Paul highlights the improvement to the Sabres ability to win battles, which has led to much more scoring opportunities.

#buffalo #sabres #buffalosabres #letsgobuffalo #sabrehood #sabresnews #buffalosabresnews #nhl #hockey #nhlnews #wgr550 #wgr #sports

Share, Thumbs Up & Subscribe to WGR 550 for New Content Daily!

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WGRSportsRadio550
Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WGR550
Follow on X/Twitter: https://x.com/WGR550
Follow on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/wgr550
Follow on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/buffalowgr550