SabresBaltimore

So I get a lot of people don't like Dan and Ray, but I know Benson was serving the extra 2 because they said so on the broadcast. After the Tuch fight, Ray snapped at Dan because he was talking over the PA announcement of the penalties. Ray learned the right way to do things from RJ, but can get off on tangents and needs to be reigned in. RJ would do that. Dan does not. Ray was never a good replacement for Jim Lorentz (or Harry Neale, who I never liked personally but seemed to make RJ happy), but I don't find him as bad as a lot of people on these boards seem to. I think Ray and Dan are "fine" when compared to many other broadcast teams around the league. There was always going to be a big fall-off from RJ no matter who they got to replace him. Similarly, I've never liked John Murphy for the Bills after Van Miller retired either, but he was "fine". I haven't tried Chris Brown since I'm no longer in the area to hear the radio broadcasts, but I'm not a big fan of him on Bills Live, so I doubt I'd like his play by play either. National NHL broadcasts have had the the same issue of them talking during play for years, and often times they are doing a bench interview while play his happening. It's maddening. Those are made for TV only, but as someone who grew up listening to RJ, I share your frustration that they aren't shutting up and focusing on play by play while the game is going. Unfortunately I think the ship has sailed on that style of commentating. I think the perception is that few people listen to games these days compared to watching, and many don't even watch a full game, just clips or game recaps. So a lot of the quality of commentating has changed as a result.

I think Benson was just serving the extra 2 for Cozens there.

I don't really price watch, but in the past I've had mixed success with that strategy. Sometimes you can get really cheap tickets at the last minute, other times not so much. It depends on how bad the team is playing, who the opponent is and night of the week. Weeknights and and Western Conference teams always seem to be easier to get cheap last minute. Given the number of empty seats for home games, it's probably a good idea. However I expect a lot of Bruins fans will show up, which could end up driving the prices up some. Being a Tuesday game though, it should be cheaper than if they were playing on the weekend. But if the Sabres start winning a lot, it may get people back into the arena, especially for a division game. I'd hold off on buying tickets right now, but maybe check daily and if prices start to rise pick it up. But it's always a bit of a crapshoot in my experience.

Looks like you can watch the pregame stuff for Anderson for free: https://www.nhl.com/video/senators-celebrate-anderson-6339800016112 They don't appear to have the interview though

Thanks for the heads up. I was watching the Sabres feed so I missed it. I was able to go on to ESPN+ (https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/23dbf4fc-a1d3-4361-934e-a28440b5cb56) this morning and watch it though. It starts around the 1h 7m mark

I only turned it on for a few minutes during the Sabres first intermission. I didn't really get a good feel for it. I'll be curious to see if it generated any buzz for the league or not. Did it appeal to casual fans? I'd assume any non-casual fans were mostly just watching their own teams play. I only watch Redzone when the Bills aren't playing, but I really enjoy it, even if it's just in the background while I'm making dinner during the late games. They aren't going to typically have all 32 teams going at once, but there have to be nights (Tuesdays or Saturdays) where enough games are happening at the same time to make the format work. Since it's not a premium thing, it's a bit different with the commercials though. It looked like they were doing something similar to redzone with just having ads built into the video. Did anyone else besides Swamp check it out? I assume most of us just watched the Sabres instead.

Not sure, but ESPN is doing that Redzone like coverage they are calling Frozen Frenzy. I don't expect to check it out, but it'll be interesting to hear if it brings more eyeballs to the league.

I suspect that is the case, and something they changed this year (or if they changed it last year I didn't notice). Center Ice used to include the Canadian feeds, except when in French. Typically on Verizon I got the home team and occasionally the away team. I want to say ESPN+ has Canadian feeds when applicable, but since I always watch MSG-B, I don't recall. I'm kind of hoping they have the Ottawa feed/pre-game tomorrow since MSG-B never includes pre/post game but other RSNs do. I want to see the Anderson ceremony. I don't really watch NHLN unless the Sabres are on. Sometimes for Juniors or NCAA games. It's not a particularly good network. Then again I don't really watch NFL Network that much either. Typically just for a Bills game. Maybe a bit of Good Morning Football. I'm just hoping they have the MSG-B feed on NHLN tonight. They have in the past.

I can't use twitter from work, but according to Lance Lysowski Comrie is warming up in the starter net

I vaguely recall nhl.com showing the canadian feed to me in years past, but so far the only time I see both feeds is when it's been 2 US teams (except the TB game which was on ESPN). So it's never apparent anymore. When I look at tonight's game it shows NHLN in the top bar, but if you go to game center it shows NHLN/MSG-B but doesn't show CBC for me. Once upon a time I used to get all of Hockey Night in Canada as part of NHL Center Ice. Maybe they still do that, but I switched to ESPN+ last season. UPL playing in Ottawa does not give me the warm and fuzzies. I'd rather play him tonight and then figure out tomorrow if it's Comrie or Levi.

it looks like the game will be on MSG-B for anyone in market, but NHL Network for anyone else in the US out of market. I assume it's not going to be on ESPN+, but I can't check from work. I'm curious who will start in net tonight. If Levi is good to go tomorrow, I'd go with Comrie again tonight. If he can't, I'd play UPL tonight and keep Comrie for the Sens tomorrow. I wonder if Benson will be back as well. I'd guess he'll be keeping with the new lines from Saturday.

Hopefully they can figure something out tonight. We can't keep affording to drop games. Especially with a team we may be vying with for the final playoff spot.

By sheer coincidence I realized I have chicken fajitas for tonight

I love this move. It's funny that I was hoping for this kind of thing earlier today when the announcement about his retirement in Ottawa came out. It's probably something that's either been in the works for a bit, or that they just formalized and waited to go with the "official" retirement.

Pleasantly surprised Mule is out there with Dahlin and not just an extra skater. Given his history I was expecting him to miss at least one game.

Well that's good news. There is still a chance he misses tonight's game, but hopefully he is back for the Islanders.

The only reason I ever disliked Anderson was how well he played for Ottawa for all those years. I thought it was a nice gesture to have his final game be against them last season. I'd really like him to sign some kind of contract with Buffalo to be consultant or something. He seems to be hanging around at times, which is nice to see. I'm not sure if that's a paid thing or voluntary (or maybe they like pay for hotel, travel and food?). I suspect he wants time with the family in the short term, but that may change once he's been gone a bit and misses being around the rink all the time.

We may simply see something like: Dahlin/Clifton Power/Joker Bryson/EJohnson instead if Granato wants to keep Power/Joker together. I can't imagine either Johnson or Bryson being the one paired with Dahlin. Johnson is too old to do those minutes and Bryson is too much of a liability.

I don't expect Mule to play, but I don't expect him to be out long enough to call up Ryan Johnson. That means we're stuck with Bryson. Based on how the numbers looked last year I'd do these pairs until Mule returns: Dahlin/Joker Power/Clifton Bryson/EJohnson Clifton is still acclimating and making some noticeable mistakes, but I'd like to see how he pairs with Power. Hopefully the veteran play Johnson bring keeps Bryson from being too much of a liability (and hopefully his "improved" play in pre-season actually translates to decent 3rd pair play but I'm not holding my breath). I didn't really remember Joker playing with Dahlin last year, which probably means Joker wasn't messing up too bad. Apparently their stats for last year are really good. That's been brought up on both Maintenance Day and Expected Buffalo. Last game he had both Johnson and Clifton playing with Dahlin. Then late in the game it was Power. We'll see what the pairs look like at morning skate though

the early stuff was kind of meh..but at the end with 4 of them and JJ was messing with the other players was pretty good. But yeah..I hope Skinner does another 2 stalls

Sabres are 0-2 with GDT I've made and 1-0 with GDT I haven't. My initial suspicions have been confirmed. It's scary to have this kind of power. I guess no more GDT from me for the rest of the season, or until the unwelcome power recedes..

We're going to win tonight because I didn't make the GDT. It's that simple. I probably won't get to watch it tonight though. So I'll likely try to avoid the results and watch the game in the morning

Well we're 0-2 for GDT I've made. Obviously someone else has to make them.

The Sabres will be looking bounce back after losing their home opener to the Rangers. Tonight they head to take on the Islanders. This will be the Islanders first game of the season. They are coming off a wild card berth last year. No word yet on the lineup. Will Granato mix anything up, or run it back with the same lines and defense pairs? Does Levi get the start again or do they go with one of two back ups?