Marvelo

For starters, instead of the FNC, I'd call it the FNA. (First Niagara Auditorium)

The FNC has become an uninspired morgue to be playing in. The players must feel it. Everything about it is dead. The only time it seems to come to life is when it’s artificially resuscitated with either a goal or one of the incessant attempts to pump up the crowd with lights or music or artificial crowd noises I suspect. The whole game experience has got to be changed from top to bottom. The crazed fans are there but the experience is deadening. Any ideas?

Somewhere along the way, Buffalo home games have become a morgue.

I think Lehner looked weak on the 2nd and 3rd goals.

What are these things called Antics?

I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when Ed Kilgore celebrated 40 years (?) on the air at WGRZ then swiftly moved over to Pegulaville so he could serve as a mouthpiece to the organization. Pegulas have been consolidating power in Buffalo to the point that in the future, the only listened-to sportscasters in in Buffalo have been bought and paid for.

can anyone remind me how long did that Trade Stafford tread go on?

It must be embarrassing to be Matt Moulson these days. The man is invisible, the game has passed him by, he's trying to "teach" one of the stars on the team what the NHL is all about while being benched and yet he has four more years on his contract. How many games without a goal now? 25? This is getting into Leino territory. I feel for him; he seems like a good guy. Kane is struggling too. Maybe it's an eyebrow thing.

looking at the rest of the Sabres' schedule for January, only 1-2 more wins til Feb might be a distict possibility... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/team/buffalo-sabres/schedule

Maybe I should lower my sights and just talk about one low rounder who even makes it. Foligno is a 4th and Ullmark and Liewen were 6th and that's it. Since 2005.

We need surgeons, we get butchers.

Why can't the Sabres pick any scorer or just any player of any consequence in the lower rounds? They always have to go for the shiny #1 draft pick and lately it's been top 5. Mogilny was a 5th rounder. Tom Brady was a 6th rounder. My guess is that's why we're no good...too many failed drafts outside the top 5 picks.

I wonder how Nick and Marcus Foligno together would impact this squad.

On the other hand, Kane looks like he is great at hitting the goalpost.

He's probably on the block...http://thehockeywriters.com/stars-5-potential-trade-partners-for-jamie-oleksiak/

I know they'd never give him up but I'd like a bonecrusher like Oleksiak. Trade the usual suspects. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/player-bio/jamie-oleksiak

I think there are still chemistry problems. Hate to say Moulson and Gionta are gumming up the works even though their numbers are ok for aging players...and there are other regulars like Gus, and Foligno who aren't carrying their weight. Kane has been having problems fitting in and now the scandal seems to have a chilling effect. I was expecting more scoring out of Bogo and other D too...but last 2 years have been historically bad. This is almost an entirely new team and needss time to gel but I think another trade or two is needed.

Not much wrong with the Sabres. Just the other teams are better.

Wonder how Ennis is. The way he was shielding his face, he looked like he got a concussion.

This is sort of about the Bills... I was watching the 10 minute NFL package they put together of all the games and they showed Bills-Dallas. They had the Buffalo feed with John Murphy calling all the plays; there must have been 30 or 40 of them. What I've noticed is that on every single play, Murphy keeps saying the word "SNAP". With a grating Buffalo accent. I've been hearing this for years. Murphy's got to go. He's announcing by rote...he's on autopilot...He keeps saying the same thing over and over again and nobody's calling him on it. They've given him enough time...Murph has definitely failed at being a PBP announcer IMO. He should either go back to being a color guy or a sports anchor.

I love the facial expressions of O'Reilly after the last couple games. He must feel like he died and went to heaven after dishes from Reinhart and Eichel, and same with McGinn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQSGw0hMd_I

I haven't been to a Sabres game in years -- I live in Massachusetts -- but what you say is plausible. I hear it time and time that people comment that the First Niagara Center is like a morgue. And the little things are aggravating, especially those last two turdburger seasons the Sabres shoved down our throat. Now Pegula says it was some of Buffalo's most succesful seasons. The residual suffering from these entire seasons of terrible hockey are going to be around like a bad hangover. After about 40 some years of being a respectible hockey franchise; competitive to say the least, the Sabres sunk to the very bottom and it was brutal. I watch on the package and the turd jerseys of last year look they were designed by either one or both of the Pegula daughters whose mediocre designs now grace the front page of the Buffalo Bills shirt and pants store website. The hangover effect can only be wiped out by great hockey, not slightly above average or .500 hockey. The NHL product itself, the 2-1, 3-2, 4-2 games so prevalent...is not exciting enough. The fact that there is rampant unemployment, much more than they report to us, has to be putting a damper on things too. But it starts with getting a great team and a great fan experience to wipe out the bad taste left from the years of the intentional tank.

Merry Christmas everybody!