Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - The Sabres Are A WAGON… Now What’s The Expectation?? w/TSN's Noodles | BB Clips

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

Boomer and Pinder are joined by TSN’s Jamie McLennan to break down the surging Buffalo Sabres, who have suddenly turned into one of the hottest teams in the NHL. After years of missing the playoffs, the Sabres now look like a legitimate threat, but what are realistic expectations for this group? The guys debate whether simply making the playoffs is enough, or if this team is capable of winning a round, going on a deep run, or even pushing for something bigger. How far can this Sabres team actually go?Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/tGgFw9RxI5s#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #buffalosabres #buffalo CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If he were here, he'd want to talk about his Buffalo Sabres who shut out Vegas last night in Las Vegas. And with that, I mean, it's not just a nice story anymore. This is you're talking about one of the top teams of the National Hockey League. It's been an amazing run since they were here. They were here. December 9 or something. So the point, it's to the point where like if they aren't a home ice team in the playoffs, it'll be, ooh, what happened? Like that's how good they've been.

And it's not just one thing. Like you can't go, okay, it's just Tage Thompson's dragged them every night. Last night, UPL played really well. I was watching that game. They got to Golden. Alex Lyon is their... Really great.

They're number one. But UPLs are really good. The reason I say UPSs, I'm not doing the Oca Pooka. It takes so long, right? It's a shortcut. It's good. I like it. It's better.

But, you know, they're, again, I look at their D. They can move the puck. They can skate. They jump in the play. Their forwards, they got a little bit of everything. And what I love about it, too, is they get some nasty in their game. Like, you know, any type of, like, altercation, they're like a pack of wolves. Like, you can tell that group has gotten, I think, galvanized by so many negative things happening.

and all of a sudden it's like it wouldn't surprise me if they had like the major league poster in their in that's right yeah you know and somebody and I don't think Terry Pagula is like this but he you know hey we're gonna band against the owner type of thing

you know the major league is dead you know although Perry to Pregula did not look very good in his year end press conference for the Buffalo Bills not off of those neighbors yeah but I will say that Like their owner has been very passionate about keeping the team there.

He's dumped a bunch of money. And, you know, when Rob Ray was on your show, he talked about how passionate the owner is, how ingrained in the city he is. It's a great story. You know, our show, I'm sure your show, many shows have kicked the Buffalo Sabres and the city of Buffalo in the junk for many years. Just because you're not in the playoffs for 14 years. like how bad, you know, how many times did I hear people say, how bad did Kevin Adams screw up that rebuild? You know, why would you trade Dylan Cousins to Ottawa, 24-year-old, 6-foot-3 centerman?

You got Josh Norris back who's played very well when he's healthy, and that's the biggest challenge. You know, I look at some of the moves, and you're thinking, you know, everybody who left Buffalo has won. A lot of them have. Like, you know, it's, they gave us some stuff. to talk about. But now they deserve their flowers.

They deserve the love that they're getting because they played great. And you're right, Pinder. They're not just a team that's like, ah, Buffalo's on a heater. They're a forced to be reckoned risk. They're a team that, you know, you expect them to beat that team

that they're playing that night. That's how good they are. I'm curious where that line is because they're going to break this 14-year drought. Place is going to be bananas. And where do you, where's the hump where it's like, Well, I guess we're not going to win this round or we're not going to go. But what a great story where you just kind of, you accept that what you've done to this point,

everyone's going to be happy with your progress and it's a success story. Because there's going to be some adversity, which is not to say there hasn't been, but it's been quite a role. They just keep winning and winning. There's not been any really adversity to speak of for months now. And that's going to have to change. That's the thing. The adversity, their battle tested because they've had nothing but adversity.

So now they're looking at the other side of the fence and going, yeah, I like what this looks like. Yeah. It's funny because Buffalo, depending on who you start, so we had a spirited debate two nights ago. I was on the leaf panel, or was that last night, last night, I guess. On the leaf panel last night. You weren't too much. And one of the questions was going to be about goaltending in the playoffs and, you know, what Evanton did. what all these other teams have done and all that.

And I were going to say this, and this is why it ties to Buffalo, there's going to be a new Stanley Cup champion this year. Florida's gone. They're not going to make it. Okay. So now you start looking at all the different storylines, all the teams that are quote unquote contenders. Everyone's got warts.

Everyone's got some form. So the saying could be, why not Buffalo? What's holding Buffalo back? from coming out of the east. Maybe Tampa. I think Tampa's the better team. I do think Tampa's a better team. But, you know, Buffalo showed that they can go blow to blow with them the other day.

And that whatever, eight, seven game, right? But I look at it. I look at Carolina. And, you know, Carolina didn't play well against Columbus last night. But Brandon Bussie, I have more starts in the playoffs than Brandon Bussie. That's not good. I've got he's got zero

Frederick Anderson has 80 he's got 80 80 games played so if they need you've got a safety safety blanket there the buffalo sabers have four playoff games experience in net and that's Alex Lyon with the Florida Panthers

UPL has again I'm ahead of him with a couple of appearances so you know the weirdest thing is we were having the spirited debate while goaltending wins and all of that. I'm saying, you're right. You're right.

So they're like, oh, well, look at, Edmonton doesn't have any experience. And I go, you're right. Tristan Jari has eight games. Connor Ingram has three. And then all of a sudden I saw this magic thing of 11. Minnesota. Jesper Wollstedt. Yeah. I'm ahead of him in games play in the playoffs. Gustafson has 11.

Colorado has 11. Redwood has four, Blackwood has seven. Again, I just talked about Edmonton. Jari has eight, Ingram has three. Vegas has 44, but Carter Hart has 14 of them. He hasn't been playing. Aidan Hills won a cup. He's got 30 games of experience.

But, you know, I just talked about Carolina. Buffalo, Alex Lyon has four, and UPL has zero. Like Montreal has six, and Montembourg, has three of them. I think three right now probably. That's crazy, yeah. And I think Fowler might actually be a chance. They might throw the reins to him and say, go play.

So it's just, it's wide open. Sorkin has 14. Gibson has 26. Stuart Skinner has 50 in Pittsburgh. And Vasilevsky has 120. Yeah. Yeah. When you asked the question, the first thing I thought was,

if you have home ice, you're expected to win the series. If you lose to Tampa, Ashley was what noodles just said when you're up against all these feature Hall of Famers and one's the goalie. And it's a long competitive series. I think that's the hump where it's like, what a great year and we're still hungry. This is the job's not done.

We'll be back next year because you usually do see noodles. Teams that are new to the playoffs. It's not usually the first time in you go on a crazy run. It's the okay, let's figure out it's a different type of a game. It's a seven game series. But their position, they're the third youngest team of league. Their position to be good for the next decade. Like a lot of their guys are locked up.

Tage is locked up. They got to figure out Tuck, but like, Don't just got lucked up. He's been probably the best story there. Everyone else is just a year old or you're better that's very young getting into their prime. Don's the out of nowhere story on this team. Yeah. And, you know, the thing is, though, I think of like, they're not a Cinderella story because of how well they're playing.

But I think of that first time when the L.A. Kings won the cup when Daryl went in there, made it in at 8th and just basically steamrolled everybody. Villan-based teams, yeah. You know, and I look at out east, I think there's a lot of good stories. I think Columbus could scare people. They're a dangerous team. Like, if they get, like, if that Jet Grieves holds up in net,

that's another guy I didn't even look at, but I guarantee you between him and Elvis. Elvis has a few games. But I think there's some great storylines. And I think when I come back to when I, when he used the word the Buffalo Sabres is, why not? Like I just don't see them as a team that would just fizzle out in the first round and go,

okay, we got our experience. Like they might be a team that's like, we're battle tested because we've never been there. And, and, you know, they might hit the ground running.

And it depends on who they face too in that first round. That's the other thing. If they win the Atlantic, now you're, are they ahead? Would they be ahead of Carolina? I don't have their standings in front of me. Sorry.

I don't believe so. but I'll check. They're tied with Carolina for tops in the east. Okay. So if they were in the east, they would get the eighth seed, which, you know,

one more game played. Yeah. So it's a Detroit, Boston, Columbus, Ottawa type team.