Devon Levi shines, rest of Sabres hide in the shadows

Devon Levi shines, rest of Sabres hide in the shadows

All right was that the final death blow in Vancouver the standings not looking great after a pretty poor effort against the Canucks coming up here on the locked on Sabers Podcast your locked on Sabers your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabers part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day all right 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 and today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an

Account use the code locked on for $20 off your first purchase 3 to2 Canucks over the Sabers in a game where both go ERS only let two goals in but you get a 3-2 result we’ll tell you how that happened uh if you missed the game it was late uh I woke up

Super early again to watch it back and this one kind of dragged on and felt like it was longer than it actually was because the Sabers seem to be defending the entirety of the game uh a lot to get to on today’s episode I’ve got a take on

The Sabers at center for the end of the season and Beyond uh Thompson and cousins although I was very happy with Tage in this game so not a night to criticize him for the individual game but more big picture coming up in the third segment we’ll take a look at what

Happened around the Sabers as well they got some good news and some super disheartening news uh on the out of town scoreboard and in the standings so that’s coming up as well if you want to get your take in or interact with me uh be sure to check out our lockdown saers

Text line go to join sub text.com blocked on Sabers you can sign up for the show’s text line there and then once you’re after you’re online you do it there everything’s on your phone from there on out so three to2 the Sabers just were a no-show they fall to in

Their last nine backto backs the second of a backto back in the last nine games in that situation the Sabers are now one in eight they cannot win in that spot and that’s a little bit disheartening in that they built this team to be the youngest in hockey they’ve said this in

Part because in a tight schedule like that younger means legs means more energy in backto backs like that so the fact that they are one and eight in their last nine on the second of a back-to-back is not not a good sign uh at all because you would like to think

Their energy level would be better than an older team so Devon Levi another name to talk about here a talk about some of the line combinations there was a very different uh result of play from one line to the other three um so we’ll get to that actually even right here because

It was a game where Tompson tuck Genson showed up and they were awesome as a line in fact I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this for an entire game I I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it Thompson tuck Genson as a line expected gals four percentage

100.0% a perfect game by the Thompson line now they did not score any goals the three of them uh did not score any goals but the expected goals was 100% they would never be expected to give up a goal based on the game they had because I mean shot attempts is where

You can begin and end with it shot attempts in this game with Thompson talking gearson on the ice for seven minutes and 39 seconds those three were together at five on five 14 shot attempts for zero against they did not give up a single shot attempt not just a

Shot they didn’t not they didn’t let one on net they didn’t allow an attempt while they were on the ice which means they had the puck the whole time because Vancouver never even got close enough to take an attempt at the net scoring chances they only had um five while they

Were out there uh together of those 14 only three of the 14 by the way found their way to the Nets that’s where the execution of the line did not really come through but that line was awesome on the night in totality the other three lines stunk now cousins petka and gearan

And Benson not a disaster but their uh line you know shots were 4 to one when they were out there uh attempts 7 to four not bad Payton C but the expected goals were 22% because they didn’t have any scoring chances while they were out there uh

Krabs Greenway and Skinner had a really tough game and then joose Robinson Olson were horrendous as good as Thompson gearus to tuck uh these guys were really bad I said I don’t remember ever seeing a 100% expected goals four percentage uh Jose Robinson and olison were 0.0 per.

So the Thompson line had a perfect game and the J line had the worst line you the worst game you’ve ever seen in your life um and the totality of all that together equated to 17 shots on goal 11 shots at five on five six on the power

Play 11 shots at on goal at five on five that cannot happen you cannot have a game like that this just happened to them on and then the other individual that obviously showed up with both goals on the game for the Sabers was Ras D two

More goals to add to his season total the assist numbers have come way down for Dalene but two more goals puts his career his season at 17 his career high and I think he’s probably going to get to 20 I mean it’s gonna be close here

He’s got he need three more goals uh in the final 11 games here um but Dalene the first goal what to make it two to one 10 minutes to go in the third period what an effort I mean at the Blue Line walks through the defense tow drag

Forehand backhand and then back strong backhand shot on the glove side to put it past uh Casey Des Smith for the goal uh Dalene was awesome the second one he needed to get a little lucky took a big Slap Shot from the point went off Nikita

Zor off’s leg and into the net um that made it three to2 with 20 seconds to go not enough time really to come back um Dalene was great and really the Dalene and Byam pairing had a huge bounceback effort I thought well I guess they were good against Seattle too but Saturday I

Thought they were horrific together and in this game I would call them downright dominant I mean those two Byrum with the Zone exits man he is just a dream to watch as someone that has played defense really any time I’ve ever played hockey in my life um you know that even now

Playing Beer League or roller hockey or whatever uh I I like to play defense I play defense in ehl so I’m always I have such an appreciation for guys that can make simple plays like that that go under the radar um that aren’t talked about as much there are highlight reel

Zone exits that you’ll never seen a highlight reel because it’s a Zone exit who cares right but Bowen Byam the way he works you know angles the way he works for Checkers he is you can’t pressure that guy like he will he knows exactly where to go he knows how to

Throw you off just a little bit so that he can get the puck up the ice or skate it out himself he is I might even want to say better than Dalene at it Dalene I thought was one of the best I’ve ever seen at just

Getting the puck out of his own end and not getting the puck taken away from him and I think bym is at least just as good at that so those two together I’m Still Loving despite the fact they had that one really bad game together um I

Thought they were great but those five guys were the only five that you can’t win a hockey game with just those five you got to have other guys producing and even the Thompson line as much as they played well you got to bury your chances uh because you know z00 when you were

Out there on the scoreboard that’s not good enough so uh you need better you absolutely need better of overall from the whole team offensively and I’ll get to this in the third segment of today’s show but uh in part I this is why I didn’t fully believe they were capable

Of putting together like a crazy great streak um to get in like they to get a 90 in one stretch uh in the last couple of days I I think you need to have someone offensively you can count on every single game and the Buffalo Sabers do not have that luxury right now

You can count on their goal tending every single game you can count on Dalene and Byrum you know save one bad game every once in a while but you know the forwards every other night someone’s there and then they’re disappearing so Skinner’s there and then he disappears Thompson’s there he disappears cousins

Disappears and then has a great game there’s nobody on this team up front that is consistent not one not one Alex Tuck’s consistent in an overall uh you know 60 foot game um but no one offensively just in pure creating chances and scoring goals they don’t have a single consistent offensive

Player on the hockey team um also on this game the goal that made it one to nothing for Vancouver four minutes into the first period Conor Garland challenged by Don Granado lost the challenge the Savers went to the short-handed and they did end up killing it off uh gender interference I would

Have thought so I was stunned that they didn’t overturn that I mean I the puck is kind of invisible and there’s a there’s an argument I guess that it’s already dribbling through um but Levi’s got the puck on the goal line it’s not in I mean even if it’s on the goal line

And you might think it might go in but you don’t know the Puck’s not in and then Garland shovels the puck through like he’s supposed to but he shovels the pad in and kind of knocks Levi just a little bit off his post and the puck

Goes into the net so again we’re not trying to predict what would have happened would the puck still have dribbled through had Garland not done that I don’t know maybe but all I know is I watch that play and think the reason that puck is sitting in the net

Is because Conor Garland shoveled Levi’s pad into the net that’s the number one reason that puck is sitting there in the net I I think they should have overturned it I I did not think that puck would have went in I think there was a very good argument it would not

Have gone in had he not done that how was that not goenda inference I don’t know uh Elias Patterson on the power play two to nothing in the second like Sabres overall again they had one line play well and they had a great game from

Devon Levi Gotta Throw It give it to him right first NHL game in two months he went down to the AHL has been dominant at the AHL level the second best save percentage in the AHL All Season he comes up to Buffalo and he was getting peppered right right from the get-go

Getting peppered the Canucks end up with 34 shots on the night um in terms of the amount of chances they had man this is crazy I didn’t even see this until just looking it up this moment the knucks this is nuts I don’t even know how this

Is possible because they only had 34 shots but I guess it’s possible they had 47 scoring chances how is that possible 47 scoring chances 26 High danger scoring chances I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised because I did see this Devin Levi in this game saved 3.7 goals above

Expected of all the crazy Advanced stats we’ve seen from this game that might be the craziest three point 7 goals saved above expected so simple math there kanuck scored two goals uh in a third empty net we don’t count that one for this of the two goals 3.7 above I mean

If he played a League average game he would have allowed like six goals he allowed two would have been no fault of his own if he let four or five in but he kept the Sabers in the game all night long Levi was tremendous I thought he

Was moving well all the things that made you think that kid is special at the end of last season were on display how efficiently he moves side to side how how he I he’s very different it’s a stark difference between Lucan in and Levi it almost it hits you hard because

You’re so used to Lucan in because he plays every game for the Sabers um L Lucan is a big golender that this year has been sitting back in his own crease a little bit more um so he’s not having to slide around and move as much uh Levi

Because of his small frame and he likes to play out on top of his crease he’s moving all over the place but did dude is like moving like like a like 80s Michael Jackson you know on the dance floor like he is unbelievable the way he

Moves with his edges uh on his skates so Levi was great and now you look up at the advanced stats and expected goals four I’ve been telling you all season I think Levi’s been a little bit better than you think the advanced stats show that League average goenda above expected in one game

Because it was such a good one game 3.7 expected goal St expected now per 60 out of 71 goalies that have played uh 10 games or more this year out of 71 goenda where Levi ranks 20th Lucan in 17th he’s not even that far behind him 20th out of 71 Levi’s had

A damn good season AHL plus NHL this was his best game I thought of the year uh at least for my memory off the top of my head the numbers would say it was his best game of the year too uh I don’t what you do with them I mean you might

Think about sending him back uh right now to Rochester get a couple of games in let Lucan in go Thursday against Edmonton and sou uh Calgary on Sunday and then I think you call Levi back up I think you call Levi back up maybe you go Lucan in again Wednesday back at home

Against Ottawa and then you have a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday of next week New Jersey and Toronto I think you see Levi in one of those two games I’d have no problem I would love to see him back in there over Luc and playing a

Back to back I think he deserves it I think Levi’s earned it all right when we come back we’ll take a look uh at the out of town scoreboard man Detroit we were almost there at a perfect night uh for the out of town scoreboard so close

Um anyways we’ll get to that we’ll take a look at what’s ahead as well here in the lockd on Sabers podcast we are presented here on the show by eBay Motors passion drive and patience what brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay

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Coverage uh be sure to check out lockon sports today and tonight Wednesday night 7 o’clock it’s March 20th check out on the YouTube channel or Amazon Fire TV channels app locked on sports today MLB season preview you already had one game over in Korea Dodgers and Padres

Wednesday morning but the rest of the thousands of M MLB games this season check out the preview lockdown sports today again their YouTube channel or Amazon Fire TV channels app uh all right Sabers fall to the Canucks three to2 next up Thursday at Edmonton nine o’clock puck drop a little bit earlier

For that one so out of town scoreboard the Sabers played at 10: I didn’t stay up for that game I watched it in the morning so the hockey that I got last night was the out of town scoreboard and I felt not as good as I could have felt

Going into uh my sleep because it was almost perfect it was almost perfect I said yesterday what was a perfect night have the Devils beat the Penguins because they’ve played more games and they were one point behind the penguins that happened the Devils beat Pittsburgh in regulation good all right what else

Do you need we need the Hurricanes to beat the Islanders again preferably in regulation you got that the Hurricanes rolled the Islanders four to one and they got out had right away early three nothing in the first period and that one was on cruise control uh from the get-go

So you got the Hurricanes result the other one pretty big one Columbus at Detroit all right my my hopes are not that high the Blue Jackets are terrible but I thought you know the Red Wings have lost a couple games of the coyotes uh they could lose to anybody and there

They were first period Detroit down two nothing all right let’s go I might have jinxed it I threw it in our lockdown Sabers text line hey it’s two nothing Columbus and by the time people were responding to me it was two to two uh Detroit tied it up pretty early on in

The second period third period starts Columbus takes the lead back again 3-2 all right awesome let’s go we got the uh Islanders losing over here the devils are winning um now we got the right Red Wings losing this is perfect this is going to be a dream night Sabers are

Going to end up two points out by the end of the night let’s go 12 seconds to go 12 seconds to go the Blue Jackets couldn’t hold on for a dozen more seconds thanks for nothing Columbus the Red Wings tie the hockey game super late uh Lucas Raymond gets the goal and then

They go to overtime they run a pick play with Mory cider running the pick and Patrick Kane going around the left no call from the official and Kane rips it home his 15th goal of the season the Red Wings win it in overtime and they are now in that final playoff spot Five

Points above the Savers it it ah the Knight should have been four points back you should have been four points back and four points feels a lot better than five points uh even though I know it’s not technically that that big a difference um but that was a big one

Columbus we needed you to hold on 12 more seconds and they were unable to do so the out of town scoreboard for Wednesday night if you’re looking for some hockey and you’re looking for some uh things to root for the only game you got is Toronto and Washington it’s a TNT

Game so National TV you get oetkin you get Austin Matthews you get some star power as well uh in Washington you’re obviously rooting for Toronto the capitals this will be one of the two games at hand they have on the Sabers at least for the time being actually they

Have three games in hand on the Sabers uh they’ll make one of those up they’re four points ahead of Buffalo if they win the game they’ll go into that final playoff spot even if they lose in overtime they will so you need a Toronto win in regulation and the Sabres can

Stay Four Points back of Washington and they would only have two games in hand uh Washington would after tonight so rooting for the Leafs they are favored in that game no surprise despite the fact that the game is in Washington minus 135 for Toronto over at FanDuel

Sportsbook all right when we come back number one Center I think we’re headed for a dark conversation after the season is over spend a couple of minutes on that let you know what I think that is coming up here on the locked on Sabers podcast we are presented here on the

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The Savers as well as conversation during the games we we’ll engage in some debate you know once in a while today uh I kind give a preview to a subject I’m going to talk about here which is something I was thinking a lot about this morning for the

Sabers Center I was thinking about and I talked about this on our morning show with Jeremy White on wgr are like what are we going to be talking about as the move to make after the season because last year the Sabers missed the playoffs

And it was easy we all knew we were all in agreement goalie they needed better goal tending now maybe there was a little bit of a differing of opinion how you would accomplish that I feel like though I remember most people being in agreement they needed to add add a

Goenda Lucan in right that was always an idea uh and you run with Levi and a veteran they’ve accomplished that they’ve gotten better goal tending they did it in house they did not make a move they stuck with Lucan in and he has given them everything they could have

Ever asked for so that’s worked but last year everyone knew why they missed defense and goal tending that was it and mostly goal tending what about this year what’s the story what is the thing that they need to improve on what’s the thing to focus on after the season is over

That is impactful you know like I’m sure we’re going to talk a lot about like fourth line Center options and depth forward pieces and maybe third pair defensemen although even that I don’t think so I don’t think a lot of this team is up for grabs next year I think

They’ve got their six defenseman for next year I think they’ve got their two goenda in and Levi forward wise maybe that’s a little bit more of a question uh but again I think we’re talking about depth pieces at forward so that’s not fun and exciting I mean what’s the

Number one reason in my opinion I would say this maybe you agree what’s the number one reason that they’re about to miss the playoffs I would tell you it’s Center Center has not met expectations it hasn’t even really met half of expectations I mean I called them I feel

Like an idiot for doing this last year I sat here on this show and made I thought a convincing argument that if you were going to start any franchise right now with two centerman and include their contracts as a part of that that cousins and Thompson would be like a top five

Duo to start your franchise with I mean how insane does that sound right now but hey last year I mean they combined for 78 goals between the two of them I mean this year though 78 goals last year and this year they have combined for

36 36 I mean that is abysmal from your two number your two best centerman and that position is critical you cannot be a Stanley Cup Contender without at least one great number one Center you got to have it it’s a must and if you don’t have that you better damn well have two

Really good number two centers but even that’s very rare to win with you got to have a number one Center so those two guys cousins Thompson they’re the number one reason those two combined um so what are you g to get out of them next year because listen like

That’s all good to talk about but what what does it mean what action gets taken I mean nothing right like what you’re probably going to hear from even me I don’t like to sound like this but you’re definitely going to hear from Adams and Granado I’m sure

Is preaching patience that the only path forward is we need to trust that Thompson and cousins are going to get right and I would sit here and tell you well that doesn’t sound I mean I I not want to say it doesn’t sound likely I

Think they can do it we saw them do it last year it just doesn’t sound fun because it’s they really what it means is an action but sometimes an action is the right action in this case I think it’s the only action I don’t know what else you do

What else do you do to bring in a center above Thompson and cousins what number one Centers do not grow on trees I mean think back to the tank conversations man I mean there was a Civil War in this fan base in 2015 and it all was rooted at

How do you replace Danny Brier how do you replace Chris Drury how do you get a number one Center how do you get Crosby how do you get Malin how do you get even Nicholas Backstrom all these studs how do you do it it’s tough you either got

To draft at the top you gotta get super lucky or you have to be at the perfect spot at the perfect time because those guys will come available once every five years and I’m talking top level number one Center John taras came available Once Upon a Time

Jack eel came available once upon a time but that doesn’t happen once even once a year and when that guy does come available you got to beat out all 31 teams to do it I mean that is not a likely path to get number one Center so

What are they supposed to do they supposed to package Thompson with a first- round pick and a prospect and go get a better Center than that I just don’t think that’s like I don’t think that’s feasible I don’t think that’s realistic I mean maybe but I don’t think

It’s a realistic idea that you’re going to do something like that so you know short of Thompson and getting better I don’t know what you do you’re not going to subst substantially improve in terms of who your number one Center is without it’s got to be Thompson it’s got to be

Tage and it’s got to be cousins those guys one two they’ve got to earn their money for this they’ve got to get back to what they were because otherwise the Sabers could be in trouble they could be in big trouble at the most important position the only other pathway I would

Throw out there to okay Thompson and cousins couple years in a row now they’re not giving us what we need we’re starting to see Roy and Connelly type production right where hey these guys are decent centerman but I know the whole time I need to do better than this

That was Roy and Connelly if Thompson and and cousins ever get to that point I mean you’re crossing your finger as one of these prospects and one of these kids can do it that’s you’re that’s the next most likely number one most likely way to improve its Center next year is just

To get it from Thompson and cousins those two to progress back to what they were that’s the most likely outcome to get that the second Pathway to getting top level Center production if it’s not those two you got to hope that either Matthew seavoy Yuri Kulik or Noah osland

Are going to become studs you need one of those three to become a great great Center and that’s it I don’t think trade’s realistic I don’t think free agency is realistic this is where we’ll talk more about these two uh as the season wraps up here but it’s a lot a

Lot of this offseason for me is about what the hell happened to Tage and what the hell happened to cousins and how are we going to get back to what they were that is critical to this team ever becoming legitimately good all right more on that as I mentioned as we uh

Kind of wrap up the season that’s a little bit more big picture offseason uh type of chatter Thursday night sabes are at Edmonton they have two games left on this West Coast Road Trip uh they of course beat the Oilers at home a week ago and we’ll see if they can get

Another win over Conor McDavid on Thursday we will talk to you tomorrow to preview that game here on the lockdown Savers podcast uh and I want some of your takes on my commentary on the center position um I don’t really know what there is to debate here but I’ll be

Interested to hear your takes on that again you can tweet us at lockdowns saers sneaky Joe sports or check out the text line if you’re not a uh subscriber already go to join sub tex.com loock ons saers check out locked on sports today if you’re looking for some college hoops

Coverage first ever 24/7 streaming Channel on YouTube for National Sports also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app we will talk to you tomorrow here in the lockdown Sabers podcast part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every Day

Despite an incredible performance from Devon Levi, the Sabres fall short in Vancouver, thanks in large part to just 17 shots on goal. How did the loss happen? How big a hit is that to the playoff chase?

Plus, do more fingers need to be pointed at Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens for their seasons?

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