nfreeman

I thought Allen was pretty good again. The turnovers were poor plays by him, but he made plenty of good plays. I think he converted more 3rd downs today than Tyrod did all season last year (and I was a Tyrod supporter), with both his arm and his legs. This game was a lot like last week vs Miami. They frequently moved the ball well, but had plenty of mis-plays on offense and fell apart down the stretch on both sides of the ball to lose to a lousy team at the end -- so it's reasonable to question the coaching. They also undeniably looked like they need quite a bit of new talent on offense. And McCoy is probably done.

Humiliating setback.

Yes, but also different playing styles, strengths and weaknesses and body types.

I agree with everything in Bourne's tweet except the comparison to Ryan Smyth. Totally different players IMHO.

Sorry no — traveling today. Gonna watch game later.

Good to see ya!

Looks like Pilut is staying for a while.

Good stuff Ogre. Thanks.

I think this is kinda overblown. There is stubhub in Toronto too. For Thursday's game vs divisional and geographic rival Detroit, there are seats in the upper deck for $100 and in the lower level for $200. Not cheap but not insane either.

Well, I'm not sure about this. Anyone looking to turn a profit on Sabres STs has, I'm guessing, been sorely disappointed by a huge financial bath for the last 6 years or so. It's probably more accurate to say that there are many STH's who like the idea of recouping some of their (substantial) costs by selling off the Leafs games at 2x or 3x of their cost.

I can't argue with any of the above posts about AO. At his peak he was a force of nature. But I think when all is said and done, Matthews will have established himself as the better goalscorer.

IMHO, as the Sabres continue to improve, the # of tickets sold by STHs will drop -- but not down to a level where Leafs fans won't be numerous and noisy.

Beat me to it. Not one of QT's better ones, IMHO. OTOH, I really liked Django.

Gretzky was of another species IMHO, but Bossy is worthy of being in the conversation with him.

Matthews has 15 goals in 14 games.

So last night after the Sabres game I was flipping around and came across "True Romance" just as the incredible scene with James Gandolfini and Patricia Arquette was starting. It's a great movie if you've never seen it (written by Tarantino, btw) and this scene was amazing. The pre-Sopranos Gandolfini weighed at least 100 lbs less and was still a frightening and highly compelling presence. (BTW, I had lunch about 10 years ago with some work colleagues and Gandolfini was at the next table. He was scary in person too. We were thinking about surreptitiously taking a photo and decided not to do so -- and then like 2 days later, he was in the news for assaulting someone for taking his picture on a sidewalk without his permission.)

Well, AO is the obvious challenger for the crown, but Matthews is the one IMHO.

Holy mackerel. That was a fantastic hockey game. I yelled at the TV and jumped around my man-cave more than I can remember doing for a Sabres game in forever. Eichel probably isn't as good as Matthews (who IMHO is the best non-Gretzky goalscorer since Mike Bossy), but when the fire burns and he digs deep like he did last night, he might be. Matthews definitely closed his hand around the puck on his first goal and secured an advantage in the way he moved it and placed it. (Although I seem to think the rule on that has changed in the last few years -- not sure about that.) Pilut may or may not get sent back down, depending on the health of Scandy, McCabe and Nelson, but he is an NHL defenseman and maybe a good NHL defenseman. Sheary makes a big difference in the effectiveness of the 2nd line. As others have said, though, they need Mitts to produce more if the Sabres are going to be a consistently good team. Ullmark was really good. Big picture: the Sabres are a good, exciting, fun team again with good goaltending and the right guys at GM and HC. Halle-freakin-lujah.

I'm glad Sheary is back -- they need to change up the lines and try to get some 2ndary scoring, and they should probably change the PP lineup too. I'd like to see: Skinner-Eichel-Reino Sheary-Mitts-TT ERod-Sobotka-KO Bergy-Larsson-Zemgus -- with this line getting a bunch of shifts vs Matthews' line PP1: Skinner, Eichel, Reino, Mitts, Dahlin PP2: Sheary, ERod, KO, Risto, Pilut

I thought Pilut looked really good last night. Quite comfortable and poised, quick, and very good hands. If he plays that well tonight it's not going to be easy to send him down.

I thought the first one of those pitching wedge goals was a lucky accident, but I kinda think he was trying to wedge the 2nd one in and it was a very nifty hand-eye move.

My sense is that the comment in the Athletic related to the perception of Buffalo around the league -- it wasn't that long ago (2015) that Buffalo was ranked 3rd-worst in a players' poll in terms of market desirability. (It was an ESPN poll, and a number of the ESPN hockey writers are now at the Athletic.) Have things improved since then? Yes, but as of 2 months ago the Sabres were still the team that finished DFL 3 times in 5 years, and the city hasn't gotten any bigger, nor has its weather improved (and state and local taxes have effectively increased since they are no longer fully deductible). The best thing the Sabres can do to improve this factor is keep winning.

Don't forget his new trick: the "pitching wedge" goal from the slot!

I don't love ERod or Bergy on the PP, either. Would rather see Sheary and Pilut.

Pilut with Risto is pretty ambitious. Maybe Howie doesn't think Beaulieu or Nelson can handle that spot.