Taro T

They don't have a lot of OT losses because they usually win in OT. They are actually very good in OT. Extra OT losses only help if they were the result of games that they otherwise would've lost in regulation. Failing to win the games that they'd gotten to OT don't help at all.

Rookie. ;)

That was what ESPN+ was doing during the intermissions. @zamboni said it was the ESPN+ feed at the Eulers game.

Unfortunately, still expect them to finish with 91-92 points. But one nice hot streak gets them above that and into the dance. C'mon boys, make it happen.

The game is better than the announcing crew, which is saying something.

In the 1st game out for Dahlin last week, did the Sabres win or lose? (Btw, Tuch was out as well.) In the 1st game out for Samuelsson yesterday, did the Sabres win or lose? (Btw, Tuch continued to be out as well.) CLEARLY Dahlin is the better player. But in a SINGLE GAME must win situation, it is often easier for the other players to pick up their games enough to weather the great player being out of the lineup. They KNOW if they don't bring everything they have, they're sunk. There isn't the same urgency having a very good player out. Getting that one win is clearly doable though difficult. Winning more than that is a hurculean challenge and way more difficult than making up for the very good player. That's the theory and this kid's sticking with it.

He was the loudest. Not sure that makes him the biggest.

Someone will almost definitely regress. A bit. But they also have extremely young guys: Quinn, Peterka, Krebs, & Power who should all have substantially better years. Jokiharju should be better next year as well and personally am hoping that Lyubushkin has that "defenseman's 2nd season in a new place" settling into a comfort level with his new team that could also be better next year. If they can get goaltending whether it be by one or 2 of the guys they already have taking a step, or by trade or FA, this team should be very good and challenging to be in the top 3 in the division. Bring in another 4-5 D-man to round out the unit and they could do some damage.

PPG might be stretching it but he'll almost definitely be a 60 point player and could easily see 70 points from him. Doubt he gets a 7-8 year deal this summer but could easily see a 4-5 year deal without a NMC attached. Or with a very limited NMC attached.

Purely off name recognition either Makar or Fox. Both will be in the playoffs and expect that will matter to voters. (Though it objectively shouldn't.)

Bold take. If the Sabres make the playoffs, he finishes 2nd. If the Sabres miss the playoffs, he finishes 3rd. Either way, if he's reasonably healthy next year he wins it in '24. (Just don't see them giving it to anybody but Karlsson this year.)

The bolded is great to read. Wonder if that will also carry over to matchups and deployment? And if it does, why couldn't it have started yesterday? Personally, would sit Olofsson, but expect it will be Peterka.

Yes, somebody had to center Peterka and Olofsson. But you don't make that player also go against the McDavid line and provide additional support to that line in the form of Bryson. Yes, Cozens went against McDavid pretty much all game in Buffalo last year. He didn't get gifted the weakest 2 defensive wingers on the team while drawing that assignment. Cozens was given a difficult assignment but was set up for success. Krebs was given a difficult assignment and was set up for failure. And, that 2nd goal was against the Eulers 4th line, not the friggin' McDavid line. Don't have an issue with the deployment on that 2nd goal. As you said, those guys had to play against somebody. But that 1st goal was durn near criminal. And actually, as shown early in the 2nd, nobody HAD to center both Olofsson AND Peterka at the same time. Put 1 on 1 line and the other on another.

And the $64k question is will he actually do that or will he give them additional learning opportunities down the stretch like letting Krebs center Peterka and Olofsson with Bryson as support against the McDavid line coming off a TV timeout. My expectation is that it will be the latter. And it might make for a better team next year, but that is very debatable at this point, but it will not likely help with this playoff push. But with that said, this is the type of game that this team has been winning and am cautiously optimistic that they will do just that.

When the next wave of kids force their way into the lineup then Adams has some interesting work to do. And it is quite possible that Mittelstadt isn't the piece moved if somebody else that brings a comparable level of play to what he does can bring back significantly more in trade.

Graham comes across as the consumate social justice warrior who loves nothing more than burning others to the ground. Harrington comes across as a bitter weeney. It's a match made in heaven.

Mittelstadt didn't just get Olofsson as a linemate, he also got Asplund a fair amount of time as well. And, as his was the 2nd scoring line, he also got saddled with whatever pairing was the 3rd pairing for ~1/2 of his shifts. No, he didn't play well the 1st couple of months, but he really wasn't exactly set up for success either.

No, you said the NHL has botched all their previous expansions because the teams were too weak and that the league is happy that these last 2 expansion teams are good. The only problem is, they DIDN'T botch the last expansions from the '90's & '00's. Of 9 expansion teams brought in, only 1 of those ended up moving. And that one team had a horribly structured ownership group. It didn't fail because it was too weak, it failed because it was disfunctional. The league does a VERY bad job of vetting ownership groups (McNall, Spanos, the Sabres Criminals, Melnyk in Ottawa, the Atlanta group and that's just ottomh). The only one they got right was Balsillie. 2 of those expansion teams eventually ended up winning the Stanley Cup. The other owners are OK with that. They aren't ok with putting an expansion team into the Stanley Cup Finals in their 1st season. And btw, during that same time frame that 1 of 9 expansion teams moved you had the Jets move, you had the Nordiques move, you had the Whalers move, and you had the North Stars move. All teams that had been established well over a decade earlier. But nice try to deflect from the facts. The '90's expansions weren't the expansions of the '60's and '70's when they really did leave the expansion teams alone to fend for themselves. And, as stated in the original post you took such exception to, there are $500MM and $750MM reasons that the league didn't use the same rules for expansion that they used in the '90's. The driving force was the cash way more than the stability.

Yes, thought he would be a good 2nd line C. He isn't. But he is a good 2nd line W.

At a minimum, he needed to be using the version of the Krebs line that was used more often in the 2nd and 3rd - Krebs Greenway and Olofsson. Though would really have preferred one of the other 2 lines used there at that point. That Krebs line he used in the 1st is simply bad in their own end and has been since it started getting put together when Tuch went out injured. And yes, Mittelstadt and Cozens have played well together. It's almost as if Mitts actually is a legit 2nd liner. Give them another top 6 skater (either Quinn or Tuch, the latter can't get healthy soon enough) and the team will have 2 really dangerous lines and a very responsible line with Okposo and Girgensons. The Krebs line can be good in its role too if Granato is willing to make the (not so) hard decision to play his best 3 remaining forwards on it. As for goalie tonight, would go with Comrie, but expect that Granato will go with UPL.

Which is usually enough out of your 4th liners. Coach put some weaker players into situations they weren't able to handle. At the end of the day, that was the difference in the game.

The shooter on that "weak" goal was Connor McDavid. There is a reason he is lapping the field this year. There is no such thing as a weak goal scored by him. Not unless it dribbles off his stick or goes in off his helmet. And yes, Skinner outplayed Anderson. Didn't mean Anderson didn't have a good game.

He's always bled blue and gold. ;)

That at least a case can be made for. (Not a particularly strong 1 but a case nonetheless.) No way can the decision to stick Anderson and Dahlin with the Krebs line and Bryson against McDavid's line be justified in a game they had to win. Get that he wanted to keep Power and Jokiharju together at that point, but if he's putting Bryson out there (heck, even if he isn't, he CAN'T put Krebs, Peterka, and Olofsson out against McDavid) he has to put either the Cozens line out there or the Thompson line. There was 1 line and 2 D-men that couldn't be called there. At least Clague wasn't the other D-man out against them. Hooray for microscopically small victories?

Never noticed Clague on the ice against McDavid. That is likely a big part of why nobody is talking about him.