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After the Buffalo Sabres were eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday from the Stanley Cup playoffs viewers might have thought that the MSG post-game show would stick around for an interview with Sabre Coach Lindy Ruff.

Sabres public relations man Mike Gilbert noted the post-game show ended early after all the games in Philly and the timing of the press conferences is controlled by the home team.

The shorter post-game shows on the road were perfectly understandable after the first three games in Philly. But Tuesday was different because the loss meant the season was over. A viewer might have expected that the Sabres channel would have waited for interviews with Ruff (see above) and goalie Ryan Miller.

However, host Kevin Sylvester signed off without a word from either.

Gilbert explained that it was about 30 minutes after the game before the Flyer interviews were done and it was time for Ruff to address the media, and the TV crew couldn’t wait for him because it had to catch the team plane.

That was unfortunate.

Undoubtedly, many Sabre fans headed to WGR radio for post-game interviews.

And those looking to hear Ruff and Miller came away disappointed, too. They may have gone to bed before WGR played the interviews.

The radio home of the Sabres took phone calls for 45 minutes or so from fans before it aired the Ruff interview.

WGR Program Director Andy Roth explained that post-game host Brian Koziol made the editorial decision to take fan calls rather than instantly run the interviews.

“The phone lines were blowing up,” explained Roth.

It wouldn’t have been my call to take fan calls. It never would be.

I mean what would you rather hear more? Sabre fans expressing their disappointment, airing gripes or being part of a therapy session or an interview with the coach after the end of the season?

I would have carried the interviews first, especially since the coach wasn’t on TV.

After all, we have a whole week or a whole summer for amateur analysis from fans who usually don’t know what they are talking about.

It turns out WGR postgame producer Dave Buchanan agrees with me. He said his boss probably didn’t realize that the station played the Ruff interview as quickly as it could after reporter Paul Hamilton finished his interviews and sent them back in a way too complicated for a non-technical wizard like me to explain.

“Paul does his best to get us the sound as soon as he can and Brian Koziol does and excellent job at mixing in the callers with the interviews,” emailed Buchan. “We did the best we could with the tools we have.”

I’ll take him at his word. But it is hard to believe in the 21sth century that the MSG coverage couldn’t wait for a Ruff interview and the Sabres’ radio station needs 45 minutes to get a Ruff interview on the air.

It would be preferable for WGR to have the equipment to carry post-game interviews on the road live. 

Ideally, Ruff could have been heard live and fans “blowing up the lines” would have stayed to give their comments and get their therapy after the coach had his say. After all, WGR stayed on for Sabre talk until midnight.

The last thing I needed to hear after the game was fan analysis.

However, I wish there had been more analysis from MSG announcers Rick Jeanneret, Harry Neale and Rob Ray during the series.

In the days when Jim Lorentz was the analyst, a viewer would at least know what lines the Sabres were trying to match with their opponents.

It also would have been nice to hear the announcers discuss whether Miller should have stopped the first goal on a soft, tipped shot and the fourth goal by a slap slot without a screen Tuesday night. Matthew Barnaby, the former Sabre who now is an ESPN analyst, faulted Miller on both goals.

As a rule, Miller often gets unduly criticized. The local newspaper noted that Flyer goalie Brian Boucher had a higher save percentage and a better goals against average in the series.

However, it isn’t as if the two goalies faced the same type of shots. The number of saves that a goalie makes and the number of goals a goalie allows usually are telling statistics but not always. The Sabres defense was so inadequate at times that the quality of the Flyers’ chances far exceeded that of the Sabres’ chances throughout the series. I mean, I know Danny Briere is small, but couldn’t any Sabre defenseman find him next to the net all series?

The Sabres won two games by 1-0 scores and the Flyer goalies lost a third game by letting in cheap goals in game five. The Flyers almost lost game six because of the goaltender, too.   

Looking at that, one could even make the case that the Flyers could have swept the Sabres if the two teams had traded goalies.

Gee, I’m sounding like someone calling a radio show who is in desperate need of therapy. Please forgive me.

pergament@msn.com

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