The Sabres can get back in the playoff race this week

The Sabres can get back in the playoff race this week

All right today’s going to be a weird show I’m feeling oddly optimistic I have no idea why about the Sabers this morning and at the same time I’m angry about another thing that happened with Sabers over the weekend coming up here on the lock down Sabers podcast your locked on Sabers your daily

Podcast on the Buffalo Sabers part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day And thanks for making lock on Sabers your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day today’s episode presented by Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code locked on for $20 off your

First purchase Monday March 11th and the Sabers sit seven points out of a playoff spot spot I don’t know why with that being said I feel optimistic about them today a lot of it is the week that they are about to have come on let’s feel let’s let’s be positive here on the

Games that they’re about to have couple against Detroit game against the Islanders we’ll break it down coming up here on today’s show recapping some of what we saw over the weekend as well as always if you want to get involved with the show be sure to go to go to our

Lockdown Sabers text line if you’re not already a subscriber you can go to join uh sub.com not uh join sub.com lockdowns saers and you can find us there our question of the day from the text line is how much rope does Don Granado and Kevin Adams have next year I feel like

If they’re not in a playoff spot within four points through or within four points 10 games in next year or 20 games in there needs to be a change okay so a lot of different situations there around a playoff spot in the early parts of next season how much rope does Granado

Have how much rope does Adams have I would still BET right now that the like most likely scenario is Granado will be the Sabers head coach on opening night of the 2024 25 season and that Kevin Adams will be the general manager I do think that they are in two very

Different situations I can see despite the fact I see Granado is the favorite to be the coach next year I don’t think that has to happen more and more I wonder if Terry Pula would move off of Don Granado and accept the idea of paying another coach

Not to coach for him for only two individuals and the two individuals I think of the most are are Lindy Ruff and are Michael Pekka who is the assistant coach right now with the New York Rangers Beyond those two I don’t really think they would move off of Granado and

I’m not even sure they would move off Granado for those two so we’ll see I think if Granado opens the season next year to your question I think we’re talking about a really bad stretch to open the year like a one and seven or a

Three and6 a three and 12 Like A bad month and maybe they would make a change in season Lindy would probably still be available I don’t think he’ll get a different head coaching job so they could make a move in season like that Adams I think is very different I don’t

Think they’re anywhere close I don’t think you’re anywhere near Kevin Adams not being the Sabers general manager I don’t want to quite say he has a lifetime contract but I feel like he’s got a he’s got a lot of rope I don’t think anything could happen next season

That would cause Adams to lose his job I don’t know that anything could happen in the next two seasons that would cause Adams to lose his job maybe if they’re like one of the worst teams in the league two more years but Adams is a

Pagla guy and they trust him a lot and I think to break that trust it would take a lot it would take a lot for that to happen so that’s my answer on on those two questions so the sabes over the weekend you know what they kept things a

Little bit interesting they beat the Edmonton Oilers and they kind of did it twice they win in a shootout we’ll talk about the events that unveiled uh arrived us at a point where it was a shootout win instead of an overtime win but when looking at the game itself did

Anybody have any any confidence here they are again they’ve actually stopped giving up goals in the first couple of minutes lately but here they were 29 seconds in Ryan McLoud makes it one to nothing and then the Oilers make it two to nothing at the 1419 Mark of the first

Period And there’s a lot of Oiler fans in the building and they’re cheering and you know a lot of them come from Toronto because McDavid is from there a lot of them come from Erie actually too because McDavid has a large following there and also you had a lot of bandwagon fans

Let’s be honest a lot of those fans have been Penguins fans from 2008 2018 uh and now they’re Oilers fans so get a little bit of mix of everybody all that added up to a lot of Oiler fans in the building and it was loud when the Oilers

Scored that second goal Tage Thompson on the power play just kind of whacking at the puck at Center Ice uh at the slot is able to get it by Stuart Skinner his 19th of the Season Power Play goal it was unassisted I thought that they should have gave two assists out and one

Of them should have went to Bow and Byrum I don’t know why they didn’t I didn’t think the Oilers ever had possession but two between the Sabers touching it and Thompson touching it whatever so two to one they played a lot of the hockey game at two to one at the

Midway point of the third period first goal of the season for a guy that deserves it Jacob Bryson and you know what it wasn’t a great goal by any means Bryson comes in on the right wall he kind of throws a soft back softish backhand at the net and it finds a way

To beat Stuart Skinner his first of the year Bry kind of a weird player I’ve always talked about him this way that I like him because of how small he is I play defense growing up and I was always a super small kid but I liked playing it

From the point I liked having the whole ice to look at skating backwards I like that but and Bryson is that like I I see that in him like he’s little but he’s made it and it’s kind of impressive that he’s done that especially when he’s not

Really a very Dynamic player you would think guy that makes the NHL is a 5 foot n 5 foot 10 defenseman well that guy must be sick with the puck he must be dangerous offensive tons of points stick handling speed and there is some of that

For Bryson but he’s not a very exciting player he’s just kind of a reliable guy and he’s been that way for about a month now after not being in the sabers lineup almost all season Bryson has been really good let’s give it to him right little a

Little bit of a round of applause Jacob Bryson I think has been very good over the course of 19 games here not playing a large role you know he’s only averaging 15 minutes a night but I thought he earned that goal with the play that he’s had over the last 19

Games of the Season there’s also a weird stat running around right now about Jacob Bryson that the sabes um have only lost well I guess now it’s a little bit more they’ve lost six games they’ve the 13 wins six losses in uh in 19 games with Jacob Bryson in the lineup I don’t

Know why they have so much more success with him in there could be a coincidence um they won his first six games that he played uh so Bryson’s been good he gets the goal ties it at two anyways moving on to the overtime unbelievable the Sabers score

And it was a great goal Owen power that’s a play I’ve wanted to see from Owen power all the time power I’m someone that tries to trust the numbers over my own eyes because I know over the course of 82 games I can’t remember it’s it’s it’s impossible to remember every

Observation you have over the course of an entire season to write it down is kind of the numbers that’s how I look at it it’s I’m just writing down my observations that that way I can remember them better so power’s numbers have been solid all year they’ve not

Been great he can do a lot better better and for a number one overall pick eventually he’s going to have to do a lot better but he’s been fine that’s the numbers that I trust my eyes I can’t stand watching him play he can drive me nuts sometimes with how

Conservative an approach he has with the pocket times um how he doesn’t use his body and his size the way you would like for someone that is 6 foot five he’s got some more filling out to do of course on that front and I wish he was more

Aggressive with the skating and the passing ability that he has but he’s not he’s not very aggressive well on that goal that we thought won it he was kind of forced to do this by the clock but that’s a play where if I’m Don Granado I

Am sitting on and power down for film review the next day and I am telling him ignore the clock pretend the clock doesn’t exist and watch what you do on this play it’s three on three he’s got a lane and Owen power very commonly is someone that is always looking for the

Pass he is hesitating he is looking for something else this was I got the puck I am just walking in I’m ripping it no hesitation I am going forward with speed and I am going to put the puck past this goenda on that play again it was because

He only had three seconds left he kind of had to be that way but if I’m Don Granado I am sitting him down and saying I want you to do that all the time I want you to be that decisive I want you to be that aggressive even if you don’t

Have a very good shot right now I want you to make a decision go with speed and do it and that’s back-to-back games he would have had a goal since bow and Byam kind of stepped up as the number two defenseman and I think in many ways

Pushed power down as the third most relied defenseman instead of the second most relied upon defenseman so I like that goal from Power a lot and I wish that it would have counted for him to get the winner but the Sabres were able to to throw the puck don’t lie uh

Message out there with the win in a shootout power did not score in the shootout but you did get tuck and you had uh Thompson also scoring uh in the shootout so Sabres get the win Puck don’t lie 30 30 and five that review was

BS we all know it I five minutes after the both teams have gone to the locker room power is the only one that comes back out and the only reason he’s even dressed is because he scored he’s probably talking with Rob Ray in the locker room or in the hallway so they

Review the play both teams have left the ice and if you saw the replay that was not definitive evidence the puck was kind of in a place where because the NHL doesn’t have 4K cameras along the blue line when you’re zooming in on a camera that’s not high quality on something

That’s in motion there is something called a motion blur and I think that’s what the refs saw here or the linesman saw here the puck has this little crescent moon black spot coming off of itself that’s touching the blue line that pushes tuck offside I think it was a motion blur I

Don’t even think the puck is really touching the blue line I think it only looks that way because of the quality of of the camera that’s being used and that’s the slowest pick that’s the the slowest you can slow it down to they called it offside I can’t believe it was

Called offside because I did not believe it was definitive evidence nobody baded an eye that it was offside the Oilers were gone they didn’t make us think about it they didn’t hang around to see if they reversed it they left they left and got undressed and came back five

Minutes later lo oh they they reversed it huh okay we’ll take another shot at this and then McDavid by the way has the puck and I thought for sure that that was going to be the end and everyone was going to leave that Arena fuming at at

That um especially when you know you had a lot of 1999 uh comparisons right where was this in 99 um but the Sabers got the job done they won the game even though cousins didn’t score at the end of overtime you might have thought they were jinxed after that too they get it

Done in a shootout all right when we come back why am I feeling so optimistic about the Sabers and get getting back in the race at this late stage I’ll tell you why when we come back here on the lock on Sabers podcast we are presented

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Channel on YouTube and it’s now available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app you should check out locked on sports today because it’s the busiest day of the NFL calendar there are so many signings so many cuts being made around the league Bill stuff being happening Gabe Davis to

Jacksonville among a billion other things that have happened in the league so check out lockon sports today so the Sabers week to come this is why I’m feeling so optimistic let’s look at the standings as it stands today Tampa Bay in the number one wildcard spot at 74

Points New York the Islanders in the second wild card spot at 72 points and tied with the Islanders at 72 points are the Detroit Red Wings then you get to Washington at 69 the Devils at 66 and the sabes at 65 they have jumped over Pittsburgh they jumped over Montreal a

While ago and this week they can jump over both New Jersey and the capitals if they have a good week it’s amazing to say it but I truly believe with so few games remaining only 17 games left into March I still feel like the Sabers are a

Great week away from being back in the conversation I don’t think they’re a great week away from having a good chance at the playoffs don’t get me wrong there if they won all three of their games here against Detroit twice and the Islanders once I still think

They’d be pretty unlikely to make the playoffs but they’d get themselves back into interesting games and if I told saber fans right now hey you’re gonna sign this deal you’re gonna miss the playoffs 100% but they’re going to get back into the race to the point where they’re

Alive going into the final week of the season and you’re not going to know they’re going to miss the playoffs you’re not going to know they’re gonna miss the playoffs but you’re going to be alive going into the final week everyone in the world would sign up for that and

I don’t think it’s unrealistic that the Sabers can get themselves to that point part of the reason why is not only that they’re playing pretty well as of late they have 13 of their last 20 points which is a fine points percentage it’s a lot better than what you’ve seen from a

Couple of teams above them like Jersey and also Detroit who’s Fallen back it’s better than the than the lightning have had in the last 10 games as well the sabes have head-to heads coming up they have three games against the Red Wings from here to the end of the season

Including two against Detroit this week the Red Wings by the way have lost five games in a row they have really Fallen back I’ll take a little bit of a Victory lap here just as I predicted that was not a real playoff team we all knew it

It was not hard to see eventually it was going to come crashing down I won’t even call them lucky we just knew they were getting save numbers and shooting percentage numbers that were unsustainable it was never going to continue that way and like we thought the Red Wings are coming Crashing Down

Down 72 points they’ve lost five games in a row and they have two games against the Sabers this week if I just focus on Detroit for a moment if the Sabers win their two games this week against the Red Wings in regulation I know it’s a

Big if and the sabes let’s be honest are not worthy of even trusting them a little bit to win those two games in regulation but for sake of conversation if they were to win those two games in regulation the Sabers at worst well I shouldn’t say that if they

Were to win The Islander game twoo this is what I mean this is why a lot needs to happen right but if they have a great week they win three in a row let’s just give them three in a row they get hot at worst they’re three points back of the Red

Wings that’s in the conversation that’s in the race you’re not likely to get a top of Detroit but you’re in it of course the by the Red Wings are right there for the taking because you have two head-to heads they only have one head to head against the Islanders

That’s Thursday the Islanders are seven points above them you can cut that to five not including their other games and the other difference is while the Red Wings are sliding the Islanders are getting hot six game win streak for the New York Islanders so they’re tough the top here

And also the Islanders are one of these weird tough gritty teams their goal differential is bad they have 14 points from overtime losses this year compared to the Sabers five the Sabres have three more regulation wins this year than the Islanders do but this is the Islanders

Every year this is the Islanders they’re weirdly in the race no one thinks they’re good everyone knows they have a 0.0% chance to win the Stanley Cup even if they make it but they find a way to make it and it’s super annoying because they feel like a wasted space in the NHL

Playoffs but there they are this morning open the standings who’s in that last playoff spot the New York Islanders so get that win against the Islanders on Thursday and maybe you could you’re gonna need help with New York Detroit you could pretty you could do a lot of

The work yourself because you have two head to heads the Islanders you’re going to need some help along the way but here’s the thing all in all why I feel optimistic it’s not as much about the Sabers it’s about the teams above them I don’t trust any of them I don’t trust

Any of the teams above the Sabers that is the core of why I feel a little bit hopeful this morning despite that I know the odds are super long and that they’re almost certainly not going to get in the reason I feel a little optimistic is uh

The Devils don’t impress me at all and they’re they’re losing a lot lately the capitals don’t impress me at all the Red Wings have never impressed me a lot and the Islanders have never impress me a lot that’s really the core of why I even

Want to look at this is I don’t trust the four teams above the Buffalo Sabers when we come back the help the Sabers will need all right I’ll do it out of town scoreboard watch let’s look at it I’m gonna be watching these games we’ll

Try to keep this Live this week see if the Sabers can it’s get back in at week right it’s what’s this week is all about get back in it and maybe they can just do that but they’ll need some help I’ll tell you what help they need when we

Come back here in the lockdown Sabers podcast we are presented by FanDuel Sportsbook if you want to emotionally hedge on some of these games you could do that bet the Islanders you could go after the Red Wings a little bit if you want or if you want to double down you

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Earned doing this but we’re going to do it anyway the Utes the out of town scoreboard for this week it’s get back in at week for the Buffalo Sabers two head-to-heads against the Red Wings one head-to-head against the Islanders the two teams that they are chasing so Detroit two games against the Sabres

Tuesday and Saturday their other game this week Thursday night hosting the Arizona Coyotes all right we’re going to need you yots the yots are not playing hot right now they have lost a lot of games lately they had an epic 14 game losing streak that they just ended

Recently so not a great team to rely upon especially with the coyotes being on the road but let’s hope for Conor Ingram or Carol veela to get hot that night the Red Wings are losing to everybody right now so let’s hope the coyotes can beat the Red Wings on

Thursday and maybe we can get the Sabers within one point of the Red Wings by the end of the week possible by the way the Islanders are the team they’re going to need more help from which I mentioned Monday tonight if you’re listening here on Monday at the LA Kings

The Islanders are out west they are at La and our partners over at uh FanDuel Sportsbook um have that game as uh of course the Kings being a favorite in that one uh I just had the odds up I’ll get those for you in a moment um but I

The kings are a possession team they play a lot like the Islanders but I think they’re a more talented version of them so go Kings in that one minus 150 La is minus 150 so a nice solid favorite to win that game uh if you are interested in scoreboard watching it’s a

1040 puck drop so I don’t blame you if you’re not that interested uh to stay up that late for this one but check back tomorrow morning we’ll see if we get some help Thursday the Islanders play the Sabers that’s their next game after tonight’s game and then Saturday the

Islanders host the Ottawa Senators who are bottom of the barrel as well so you’re not getting a lot of great teams playing these two the Sabres play three head to heads and of the other three games you got one playoff team and you’ve got two bad teams in Arizona and

Ottawa but that’s what you’re looking at tonight you’re rooting for LA tomorrow the Sabres do business against the Red Wings and hey by tomorrow they could be five points out Five Point Let’s one day at a time all right I’m going to do the cliche one day at a time right the Kings

Beat the Islanders and then tomorrow you are playing for the right to go to play the Islanders at home with a chance to get within three there we go that’s that’s how you get excited for Thursday’s game get the Kings to win tonight they’re favored to win it tonight

Get the Savers to beat the Red Wings at home tomorrow and Thursday night’s game is to get within three points I’m putting the most optimistic spin on it that I can that’s the most the most optimistic way I could get I could do it

So let’s stay in it it is get back in it week for the Sabers thanks for listening today here on the locked on Sabers podcast the only update really to give you uh on practice for the Sabers this morning is that Jordan Greenway after missing Saturday’s game was back at

Practice skating uh so we’ll see what line he figur in on but good news was back skating so that’s the only update really to look at uh from Monday morning skate thanks for listening we’ll talk Sabers and Red Wings tomorrow look at the build of the two teams where they’re

At and also a little bit more on the matchup of course thanks for listening we’ll talk to you tomorrow here in the lockdown Sabers podcast part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day now go check out lockdown sports today the first ever National Sports 24/7 streaming Channel on YouTube and

It’s now available on Amazon Fire TV in the free fire TV channels app

The Sabres are coming off a weird win against McDavid and the Oilers this weekend, which combined with three head-to-head games with the Red Wings and Islanders this week has Sneaky Joe thinking about the Sabres getting back in the playoff race this week, if they can get hot.

How likely are the Sabres to get hot? What’s the closest they can be to a spot by the end of the week? Plus, Owen Power talk, and why the overturned call against the Oilers was a joke.

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