SabresBaltimore

Their coach got fired before the season started. The new coach was in the AHL last year (and has been an AHL coach for a bit I think), but I guess there is uncertainty about how good things will be with the last minute change

I think if Krebs wants to remain in Buffalo, he needs to turn himself into a shutdown center. DG has been playing him in key defensive zone face offs already.

Biro looked better in preseason and I think the only reason he didn't make the team was Benson looked better. While Biro doesn't have quite the same stat line (I haven't watch any Amerks to go on anything besides that), I suspect part of this is a reward for his play in the pre-season, while still doing well down in Rochester.

Seems like a lot of pressure to put him on the top line. Or whatever that is. The way they are playing I think the Mitts line is top atm. Then again they put Benson there, so not surprising. I'll be curious if that's what they go with. I suspect DG likes the other 3 lines, so he's keeping them the same

It was. The injury to Benson was announced the same time as Levi's. Benson missed some practice and a game, then returned and played again.

So with Benson out and Biro called up, what do we think the lines will be now? I assume Biro wasn't called up to sit in the box and will play over Olofsson or Jost. Last game's lines: Greenway-Thompson-Benson Skinner-Mittelstadt-Peterka Jost-Cozens-Tuch Girgensons-Krebs-Okposo I'm not sure where I'd put him. Maybe something like: Greenway-Thompson-Cozens Skinner-Mittelstadt-Tuch Biro-Krebs-Peterka Girgensons-Jost-Okposo

23 Sabres also blocked 21

Ah yeah. That rings a bell. I'm sure I'll still forget that by tomorrow though.

Someone previously explained what 6k meant, and I promptly forgot. I still find it a confusing nickname. UPL makes sense to me. Upie also makes sense to me. I won't call him 6k, but at least I know who is being talked about now (the first time seeing the name I had no idea they were talking about UPL). But anyways. I feel like he showed last year he could play well. The problem is he couldn't do that over a long stretch with consistency. He lost confidence, then the team lost confidence in him. Levi is hoping to practice tomorrow. But even he's able to go this week, we have a back to back on Fri/Sat. He'll get at least one game there. Likely he'll be the starter Wed as they try to ease Levi back in from injury (assuming no set backs). We need him to play like he did on Sat with consistency. I'm not optimistic, but I'm rooting for him to succeed.

For me, I first got into the Sabres as a kid when they were in the black & red. So I have a fondness for those colors and the goat. However I think the original color and logo is iconic and what the team should be using. And I'm sure the NHL wouldn't allow them to do 2 completely different uniforms full time like that. They won't let teams wear 3rd jerseys on the road either. My guess is the team is at the boundary of what the league allows because they use it as a promotion to try to get more butts in the seats. It also shouldn't be necessary to swap like that. But it does seem to fire this team up. I was half-joking about them wearing goat head shirts, but hockey players (all athletes) tend to be a superstitious bunch. So much of it is the metal game. If somehow that gets the team in the right head space, so be it.

All things being equal, I like them using the original logo and colors, with the Red & Black and special occasion type thing. Maybe we can get them all goat head t-shirts to wear the rest of the games? I just want them to win all the games. For whatever reason they do that more in the goat heads. I'd request putting them out there in purple polka dots if I thought it would help them win.

I've lost too many relatives to cancer. Sorry to hear about your brother.

Yeah. Not sure if this warrants its own thread, but who do the Sabres put in that spot? Savoie? They said Comrie is week to week originally. I'm not sure of the rules of IR, but I would think we'd pull up another defender if it doesn't go to Savoie. I think this week will be a deciding factor for both Benson and Savoie.

And of course the 1 is the game I went to. I didn't even know when I got the tickets it would be a goat head game. When I found out I figured I was in for a good game. Instead I got a building full of Rags fans, and a lot of disappointment. This year's game is not a Goat head game, so I can't jinx the streak again..

I posted the lines from yesterday's practice in another thread (same as the last game but with Jost on the 3rd line instead of Benson), but nothing is official for tonight's game that I've see

Everyone is entitled to be a fan in their own way. Get angry. Don't get angry. Whatever. It's a game. Telling other fans they are doing it wrong is just a waste of time. Personally I just don't subscribe to the getting too angry over losing. I used to when I was younger, but the last few years have put things in perspective. I just don't want to live with that negativity anymore. I will always hope we win. I want the team to improve every year. I want ownership and management and coaching all to be the best it can be and finally get a cup. But at this point, I just want to enjoy the ride. If a season without a stanely cup is a wasted season, then basically every season will be a wasted season for most teams in the league. So when the Sabres win, I'm happy. Even if it's an ugly win, or lucky or whatever. And when they lose I'm bummed and shut down the forums for a bit until things have cooled off. Then I gear up for the next one. It's one the reasons that despite being a member for 11 years, I haven't been around much. There wasn't much to be happy about. So there wasn't much I wanted to talk about. I've still watched all the Sabres games, but when they were terrible, I didn't want to make the suffering worse by complaining about them with a bunch of other people.

Let's hope so. It seemed to help Krebs. Although so far Krebs offense have felt absent since getting a promotion. I just hope if there is a critical defensive zone draw he sends out Krebs or Jost with them instead. Or maybe the Thompson/Greenway line since they are already killing penalties together.

Jost in on the 3rd line. Olofsson still on the 4th. Benson out. Still no Levi

I'm torn at this point. After a good start, I think he's shown in just a short stretch he's not ready for the NHL yet. But I hate sending him to Juniors. He might develop more playing occasional games in the NHL (with a break to go play in worlds) than with an unknown head coach in Juniors. Rochester is probably what would be best for him, but that's not an option. If sending him back to Juniors gives us the Rochester option next year though, maybe that's worth it. Although I think depending on how much he develops physically in the next year, he should be making his case to stay again next year too. However it'd be good to be able to bring him and up and down from the Amerks next season if that is the better option.

That was Tuch retaliating for the cheap shot Tkachuk got away with on him earlier. I forget exactly what he did now, but he took a few strides to hit Tuch away from the play and there was no penalty called.

Why not just rename it to "Zach Benson's NHL Tryout", that's a more accurate title anyways

From that article: Nevermind that Tkachuk started it and Tuch retaliated, then Tkachuk escalated. Tkachuk is a scumbag

I've watched a lot of Capitals games over the years. I really like Joe Bennati as a play-by-play guy. I think he's one of the few really good ones left at this point. However his color guy Craig Laughlin annoys the hell out of me. I feel like me makes Rob Ray look like a genius by comparison.