nfreeman

Outstanding. Strong contender for POTY so far.

The thread looks fine to me -- anyone else having a problem?

He coulda been living large on his friend's wing, but noooooooooooo. Alrighty then. The Sabres are back to DeLuca .500, they hold the last wildcard spot in the EC and they're playing a probable non-playoff team on the road tonight as they look to continue the momentum of a huge butt-whoopin they put on the Sens yesterday. We'll probably see Hutton today, as Ullmark played yesterday. Most important items to look for are a healthy Eichel and a healthy Dahlin, as both got banged up yesterday vs the Sens, and Dahlin did not return. 2nd-most important IMHO is whether the Sabres can deliver another consistent effort and not start slow and take a penalty or give up a goal in the first few minutes of the game. Through 14 games, Pommer has 8 goals and 14 pts, Skinner has 9 goals and 16 pts and Eichel has 4 goals and 17 pts. The Rangers are looking for their 3rd straight win. Rangers projected lineup Vladislav Namestnikov -- Mika Zibanejad -- Mats Zuccarello Chris Kreider -- Kevin Hayes -- Pavel Buchnevich Jimmy Vesey -- Brett Howden -- Jesper Fast Ryan Spooner -- Filip Chytil -- Vinni Lettieri Brady Skjei -- Tony DeAngelo Marc Staal -- Neal Pionk Brendan Smith -- Kevin Shattenkirk Henrik Lundqvist Alexandar Georgiev Scratched: Cody McLeod

Either he’s a dirtbag, or he spends too much time in the company of women fitting that description, or both.

I was joking you hoser. (Not you weave).

Me too. Are you being sarcastic? I hope not.

I'm a firm believer that incessant message board complaining will fix the situation!

IMHO, Reino has played best this year with Sobotka and Sheary. I'd like to see that line reunited, along with ERod-Mitts-KO.

OK, we're 13 games into the season, Reino has one goal and is frequently MIA, his start is pretty much as bad as it was last year and the Sabres are dying from lack of 2ndary scoring. Just wondering whether anyone who wanted to give him a fat long-term deal is having 2nd thoughts?

You are correct that Eichel to date hasn’t nearly been worth the stupid and enormous sacrifice it took to get him. You are wrong — and your snark in being wrong makes it worse — about 42 players being ahead of him. As MP notes, there are 26 ahead of him and 15 tied with him.

I wonder whether the Sabres knew about this last year and if so whether it influenced their thinking on keeping Kane.

I’ve credited this team previously this year for showing heart. Last night’s loss was the kind of loss that a team loses when it is used to losing. Lousy opponent that is reeling — and instead of coming out flying, the Sabres get blown by on 2 early offensive rushes, take 2 penalties and give up a PPG. Then a soft goal to start the 2nd period, they are back on their heels again for most of the period, give up another one and it’s pretty much over. They’ve now lost 3 in a row, all of which were well deserved losses, and I’d guess their mental state is pretty GD poor.

Bring VO and Nylander up and healthy-scratch a couple of other guys. This team needs a kick in the butt.

You’d think so, innit? Just btw — Draisaitl has 7 and 14 pts in 12 games this year. Reino has one freaking goal and 6 pts in 13 games.

Ya know, I like sweets (ice cream, cookies, brownies, pies, etc) but I don’t really like candy.

Yes — the painful family drama quotient is much higher in season 1, and then it increasingly morphs into a gripping crime drama. IMHO, the show doesn’t have quite enough of a sense of humor, which keeps it out of my top 3 all-time shows. But I can see how others would disagree (and I think many do!) and in any case it is an excellent show.

Dude. Take it easy please. The first bolded part supports my vendetta against Reino, so I bolded it. The 2nd one has some truthiness, but also some falsiness. The defenseman in a 3x3 situation often carries the puck deep into the o-zone, and the forwards have to cover for him. It's a fluid situation. Now, one could argue that as such it calls for players with better instincts than Risto, but that's a different conversation than "the D should never go there." It's also the case, as IKP has pointed out, that Risto was tripped on that play. That does happen from time to time, and again, the forwards are supposed to cover. More broadly, as to your points about Risto's numbers: I think these simply have to be taken with a hefty pinch of salt, simply because Risto has been, throughout his entire career, logging huge minutes, against the best players on the opposition, for by far the worst team in the league. No defenseman who joined this misbegotten franchise at the outset of the idiotic tank era would have put up good numbers. And no defenseman would've learned to play the game correctly. Risto needs to be depended on less and brought along patiently. He is still pretty young, and he's finally -- maybe! -- getting a chance to be coached competently in a relatively normal NHL environment.

This. I find it amazing that so many here are throwing Risto under the bus for the GWG, when Reino -- who earned less than 13 min of ice time in an overtime game last night, and has 1 goal in 12 games -- was beaten down the ice on the play by a defenseman. Risto isn't a franchise defenseman, and they certainly should've traded him for Taylor Hall. But that doesn't mean he isn't a valuable part of this team. It is insane to think they could ship him out and plug in Pilut and not suffer a major setback.

Sorry all -- I've cleaned up my inbox and can now receive PMs.

IMHO, Reino was at least as much at fault on the GWG as Risto was. Risto is supposed to carry the puck in deep during 3-on-3 when he has the opportunity, and his teammates are supposed to back him up. Risto wiped out in the corner, which was his mistake, but one of the Flames went down with him. The other Flame took off up the ice, beat Reino and created the 2-on-1. I've said it before: Reino's lack of speed makes him a liability in 3-on-3. While I agree that Dahlin should've been on the ice instead of Risto, I also think Skinner should've been out there with Eichel instead of Reino. Overall, I thought the game was pretty even in the 1st, Calgary had the better of it in the 2nd and the Sabres foolishly tried to play prevent in the 3rd, with a predictable result. Hutton was terrific. The checking line was good again, especially Zemgus, although they had a couple of chances to clear the zone before the GWG and failed to do so. Disappointing night from the forwards. I would've liked in particular to have seen more from Skinner and Reino. And Sheary had the game on his stick in OT. Even worse, I learned tonight that they could've had Taylor Hall for Risto! At least they got excellent goaltending again, which should be good for their confidence. And they got a point against a pretty good team. Let's see how they bounce back.

If Peterman poops the bed and throws 5 picks again, is it a firing offense for McD and Beane? Probably not, but it could easily lead to a player revolt, which could send McD and Beane out of town. I'm pretty surprised they haven't realized this and replaced Peterman with some other journeyman.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Simple-Recipes/dp/0471789186/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=488DX40MBK9EH23NK7JW

ERod is back with the team, right? So this is Howie rewarding TT for a good game vs CBJ? Interesting if so.

I'm not as down on McD and Beane as many are -- but if the Bills stink again next year and Allen doesn't look good, while Mahomes continues to look like an MVP, McD and Beane are toast, as they should be.

Interesting. Ullmark seems to have decided that he's more interested in teasing Harrington than in cultivating him. As pi notes, it will also be interesting to see whether Harrington retaliates.