The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Michael Augello on UPL, the Atmosphere in Buffalo, Game 7 Expectations, and more

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

Michael Augello joins the show to break down everything surrounding Game 7 between the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens. The conversation dives into Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s performance throughout the series, the energy and atmosphere surrounding Buffalo ahead of a massive winner-take-all matchup, and what the Sabres need to do to advance. They also discuss the pressure on both teams heading into Game 7, key players to watch, coaching decisions, momentum swings throughout the series, and what could ultimately decide the matchup.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And I want to pick up the conversation here about Uka Pekalukinen specifically and how much tonight's game will define his future with the Buffalo Sabres. And for that answer, we go to the co-editor for the hockey news and someone that we watch and listen to on Hockey Hot Stove. He's Mike Jello and he joins me now. So, Michael, how much does this game for Uka Pekalukinen factor into his future with the Buffalo Sabers? or is that too heavy across to bear here for Luchin in one game, albeit a game seven against the Habs? Does a lot right on this one for his future? Well, I was saying that after he got pulled in Buffalo in game five,

that that might have been the last time we saw Luchinan, but then Alex Lyon said, hold my beer and gives up three goals on four shots. And by the way, it was like, it was three goals on three shots, and I think they threw him a save just to have. make sure that it was safe. It wasn't zero.

Where did that extra shot come from? Like it was awarded after the game. Which one was it? They said it was a Demodoff shot, but I didn't see it. I mean, all I know is I remember three shots and three goals. So, but I, you know, it got me. But as for Lukinen, I look at the his situation is, you know, he's got multiple years left at a little under $5 million.

The goaltending market stinks this summer. The only problem with the saber is. is who is your number one? I don't know if it's Colton Ellis. I don't think it's Alex Lyon, because Alex Lion is a good 1B, and we've talked at Nozium about Devin Levi. So, you know, unless they're going to trade Luke and then go out and get another goaltender, aka somebody like Jordan Bennington,

I don't know whether this is his last opportunity with the Sabres, or they just stay status quo next year. Florida might need a goaltender if Bobrovsky leaves. The Edmonton Oilers are always looking for a goal. goaltender, no matter what time of day it is. Those are just a couple off the top of my head here. What did you make of Saturday? Like, I don't believe that the momentum exists from game to game.

These are like seven individual games in a series. I always am a little bit concerned when I see a blowout. I'm always concerned for the team that is blowing out the other team. So the Buffalo's come in, Buffalo Sabres come in with like false confidence about, where the Montreal Canadians are at. And let's face it, too. Even though Montreal was in the postseason last year, flamed out against the Washington Capitals,

it's not as if this is the wizened bunch, right? Like, we're not looking at, like, you know, the 1977 HABs here. These are still two young inexperienced teams, right? Which just sort of adds another layer to the fun of all of this. I'll ask you the same thing that I just asked Shana. What do you expect tonight? Because I have zero clue.

Zero clue. Yeah. If you're saying, I know what's going on, you're a liar. Because these are two very young, very inexperienced teams playoff wise. I know the Canadians played in the playoffs last year, but nobody expected them to win around. And they played well. And obviously, the Sabres have not, this is their first kick at the can in the postseason since 2011. So they're playing like inexperienced teams.

I mean, Buffalo came up against Boston. And Boston was, I think, fairly lucky to get into the postseason. whereas Tampa, you know, I thought Tampa was going to be the representative of the Eastern Conference, and I forgot that they can't get out of the first round. So, yeah, I mean, I expect a chaotic game seven. I don't expect like a one-nothing game or something like that. I think it's probably going to be closer to four, three or six, five. You know, you know, it's funny.

I always look for examples in history. Game six, 1993, first round, Detroit, Toronto. Detroit comes in to Toronto and kicks the Leafs butt. But then Toronto goes back in game seven at Joe Lewis Arena and wins the Nikki Borashefsky game seven overtime goal. It could go to overtime. Unbelievable. It could go to overtime. Yeah, exactly.

That was the interview. That was the interview. Yeah, yeah. Ron McLean is like, oh, great, thanks. But yeah, no. Thanks for expounding on that, Nicolai. But yeah, no, I mean, I think this is going to be incredibly tight. I don't think that, you know, I'm pretty sure Buffalo has scored the opening goal in the last four games, and it's been meaningless.

Buffalo is pulling out all the superstitious stops. They stayed at the hotel last night to treat it like a road game. The record on the road is incredible, and their record at home is wanting. they've switched up the anthem singer, Cammy Clooney, the anthem singer. Saw that, yeah. Doug Allen, who's been there, who was their anthem singer pre-COVID,

he is going to do the anthem, and he's been doing Thursday nights regularly throughout the season. So they're, you know, they didn't do a morning skate. Lindy held his media availability at the Marriott. And, you know, he commented, somebody asked him, who's going to start? He says, well, it's going to be one of my three. goalies. He's not going to answer the question. And he talked about, you know, yeah, well,

I'll let you know about my starting goalie in the first game of the next series. So he's talking optimistic. He's trying to be light. But I'm sure the pressure is just as much on Buffalo as it is on Montreal. And I think these young guys, you know, they're going to feel it. But I think it's going to be a good game and an entertaining game. I really hope because I've always felt that this is just sort of a side road that we're going to go down here for, I don't know if you have a thought on this. So you can just say like Merrick, like only you think about shit like this. I've always felt that 4-3 was a perfect hockey score. 4-3 in regulation.

You get essentially two goals a period. One period has three. I want each team to have two power plays over the course of the night, and it's close. So you're getting it, you're getting like three full periods. I don't know if you have like a perfect hockey score ever in your mind. 4-3 to me has always been the one that I look at. and go like that's a good entertaining game where everybody's out of it. And each goalie faces 30 shots.

So like you get good goal tending to is like one team has like nine shots. And boy, how do they get away with stealing that one? Like if you're designing your own fantasy hockey game, we're like, okay, this is going to be good. To me the final score is four to three. Each goalie faces 30 and each team has two power plays. Well, I know what the most imperfect score would be, which is one nothing or two to one.

because all you get out of that is tension. All you get out of it is, oh, we can't wait for the, you know, whoever scores the first goal. If it's zero, zero in the third period, one one in the third period. You're just, it's not quality of play. It's just you're waiting for a mistake that will lead to the game winning goal. Yeah, four, three or, you know, I know that I remember you talking about, wasn't it six, five, wasn't the score in the 87 game, Canada, Russia and Ron.

Yeah. And I was 72. 72 game 8 was 6-5. Like that seems like historically the Canadian score. Right. Now, you know, you can say Ken Dryden wasn't great in game eight. He was awful. Well, actually, Dryden was good in Game 8.

Everything, everywhere else he was terrible. Dryden was awful. I want a quick one on that one. Did an event with Paul Henderson this year. And I was like, were you surprised that they went to Dryden in game eight? He goes, we all thought Espo was starting because Ken was terrible. Right. internationally, specifically against Soviets.

He was a terrible goaltender. Now, he had a great game eight, full credit. But getting there, whof, that was a bumpy road. Anyhow, sorry, back to the floor for you. What I expect, and I have no reason to predict this, but, you know, the Canadians have pretty much stayed static throughout the first six games. I mean, if you look at it, that Suzuki-Kofield-Slovakowski line,

And they're all minus. They're great players and they're great on the power play. But I think five on five, they might, you know, Marty San Luis may shake it up and may break up that line for a game seven and make the match up a little tougher on the road. You know, there's been some talk, you know, is Gallagher going to come back in the lineup or Oliver Capening going to come back in the lineup? There has to be some little shakeup similar to what Buffalo did in game six.

They broke up that top line and it did work. I mean, they got a lot out of, you know, tuck and Benson and that and mixing up things and there was a jack twin sighting and you know jack quinn scores two goals when he had no goals in 12 and 11 games in the playoffs so i think marty might try to shake things up and for a positive effect for the haps a couple of things one when did consta helenius change his name to consta helenus and second am i pronouncing it incorrectly but somewhere this thing has changed um third of all they have a really good one there and i know that His name was all over a lot of the trade talks,

deadline, most notably Colton Pereco with the St. Louis Blues. Sometimes the trades that don't happen end up being the best ones. Given how he's played, it's a good thing they didn't make that move. Yeah, no, I mean, it was his name, I believe, was in the Robert Thomas talks as well. And, you know, I don't know how far that got, but, you know, he seemed to be the centerpiece of any of the big trade. that Yarmot was talking about at the deadline. And yeah, you're right.

At the draft, when he was drafted, it was Heleneus. Now he has straightened it out and said it's Heleneus. I'm sticking with Heleneas because that's what it was said. I hate this stuff. It's Frantuset Cabrilla and it's Thomas Caberle. Once it's said once, that's where I'm sticking with. I'm sorry. But, you know, yes, he had a great year in the American Hockey League.

He was at a point per game. And the kid is, you know, he could have gone to the world junior. He's 19, now 20. Yeah. Yeah, he's now, I think he's a keeper. I think in terms of, you know, they have him and they have Yuri Kulich, you know, Josh Norris's health situation is always a question. He's not exactly the most durable player in the world, but he has been durable in the playoffs

and they've needed him. But, you know, the strength up the middle, I mean, I think last game was an indication. Tage Thompson is more effective on the wing than he is at center. But ever since Norris got injured, they moved Thompson to center. And then he wants to play center. So they kept him there. My favorite pronunciation story, you've probably heard this one before. And you mentioned Cabrillet.

That year where the Maple Leafs had three rookie defensemen, Cabrillet, Yannick Tromblay, and Danny Markov. Danny Markoff. One of the reporters in Toronto kept calling him Tomash Cabberla. Tomash Cabela. And my old radio partner, Bill Waters,

I went up to this report. He was an assistant GM at that point and said, like, hey, how are you pronouncing number 15? I don't even know if Cabberle was wearing 15 at that point, but for sake of argument. What are he calling 15?

And he saw, calling him Tomash Caberla. And Billy said, well, his name's Thomas Cabrale. He says, no, no, no, Bill. I went and talked to him in the room and he told me his name is Tomash Caberla. He said, really, go out. Let's come how he effing pronounces cheeseburger.

His name is Thomas Cabrillet. That's what we're, remember that era, because you're old enough to remember this, too. Remember that era where Ilya Kovalchuk all of a sudden became Ilya Kovalchuk? Or Kovalchuk. Elie Kovalchuk as well, yeah. Yeah, I know. There's, you know, with the Russian players, there's always the, you know, accent on the second syllable, as Bill used to say. Bingo. Yes.

But, yeah. No, I mean, okay, I am all for pronouncing a person's name the way they wanted to be pronounced. You know, it's, I've had many people call me Michael Angelo over the years. And I had somebody call my name at school once. I went up to the person and said, you're the first person in five years who's pronounced my name. And the person said, well, I live next to, next door to somebody whose name is a jello. So, you know, it's that type of thing. It's like, you know, okay.

you would think that they get the pronunciation right at the draft or when they have their opening press conference at rookie development camp. And then all of a sudden two years later, oh, no, it's Hellenus. It's not Hellenius. It's, you know, come on. I mean, okay. I don't know what to do now. To be quite honest with you about calling him either Hellenius or Hellenus. We'll settle on something here.

But this guy's a really good player. You mentioned Yulik Kulich a couple of seconds ago. is there any update? Like, is there any chance? Like, God, he's a good player. The medical situation is quite serious. I understand that. But have you heard anything?

Like, he's there for the games, but obviously not playing. Like, is there any whispers about Kulich here? Like, what are we doing? Before the playoffs, they pretty much ruled him out for the season because of the blood clotting issue. It was something that, you know, somebody asked and they said, yeah, more than that. They didn't completely close the door, just like they didn't completely close the door to Justin and forth, who has been out since, I think, mid-October. But they're essentially saying don't count on it.

So I think once they had some injuries up the middle, and Sam Carrick got hurt again, they, you know, they opted to go to Hellenius. And right now he's got two goals and he's playing fantastic. And, you know, he's not a liability defensively. like some of the other players on the Sabres roster. So, yeah, I think that that was the move, and I don't think we'll see Kulich. I'd be surprised if we see Danforth

unless they get to the Stanley Cup final. Real quick, before I let you go, give us a scene set in Buffalo. What is the town of Buffalo, the city of Buffalo? So, no offense. What's the city of Buffalo doing with this game seven? I think there's sort of a feeling of playing with house money, so to speak,

because I still don't think a lot of people expected this team to make the playoffs. And they were the worst team in the Eastern Conference before December the 9th and then the best team in the NHL afterwards. So somewhere in between is where this team really is. All I look at is history. And we know history doesn't mean anything other than it's history, but they're one and six in game sevens.

And the one game seven that they won was Derek Plant in overtime game seven against the Ottawa senators. They owe and six other than that. game. So if history means anything, that's not a good indicator, but, you know, just go out and play well and you can win this game. That's got to be the focus and the talking point for Lindy Roth. Jump ball as far as I'm concerned. Like what's it? What's it? Mark Twain has said history doesn't repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes. That's it. Jump ball. Jump ball. No idea. Enjoy the games. Enjoy the games. Mike Colangelo. Mike O'Shello.

Mike, my friend whose middle name can often be confused with in Buffalo. Thanks as always for stopping by, pal. You'd be good. Enjoy the game tonight, man. My pleasure. Thanks. Thanks, Jeff.