matter2003

Sabres not playing coming out of this break...

In addition to Nilsson being a far better goalie in shootouts over his career

Toronto is becoming a not so lousy team right in front of our eyes

Even look at Matthews in Toronto...he just scored his 21st goal in 38 games as a ROOKIE!

We have the best player on the ice, it's never madness.

And this is my whole point...they CAN play like this, they just choose not to often times...its too hard, too much work...bring your hard hat and lunch pail and go out and play. Good things happen when you do.

He's 12th according to GSAA which normalizes thing across the league based on quality of chances against: http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_2017_goalies.html

People who usually do a lot of winning hate losing more than they enjoy winning...I completely disagree with not being frustrated and desperate...they need to play every night like its a playoff game from here on out until they can figure out how to bring at least 75% of that level every night....right now they are at maybe 30% of that level... The problem is they are giving an effort to play a game they aren't going to be good at playing no matter how much DD tries to shove it down their throat...good coaches adapt to the type of players they have, not force their system down their throats...this is a strong example of "square peg" "round hole" it just doesn't work. I am flabbergasted that DD can't see this because its pretty much apparent to anyone who watches them... DD wants to out defense teams to win...he plays scared hockey...watch what this team does when they get a 2 goal lead...they stop playing offense and just chip the puck out of their zone and try and hold on for dear life...its ridiculous.

I DON'T CARE!!!!! That team playing over its head should not have more wins than this team PERIOD! It doesn't matter how many wins they had the rest of the year...that team sucked and sucked badly. They had maybe 1/3 of the talent this team does...its an embarassment that this team should even be mentioned in ANY category with that team, but sadly they are. They simply need to expect more from themselves. That team might have sucked but the one thing they did have is a freaking backbone tho...this team is softer than butter mentally.

Let that sink in for a minute. OK...now that it's sunk in, I don't care HOW many injuries this team has had. There is ZERO, and I mean ZERO(and it should be negative) excuse for this. There is NO WAY possible that a team with the number of talented players this team has should EVER have that happen. EVER. That tank team would have been lucky to field a first line that would be better than our 3rd line currently. I'm sick of watching this team blow leads because all they do is dump the puck out of he zone and try and play the equivalent of "prevent defense" in football. I'm sick of watching Bylsma have no answers for anything. I'm sick of watching these guys leave players wide open on the power play for easy goals, which has led to the league's worst penalty killing. I'm sick of watching a goalie who can't stop anything in the shootout and has one of the worst career save percentages in shootouts in NHL history, costing us at least 4-5 points already. I'm sick of watching great chance after great chance not go in the net. I'm tired of this team underachieving to the point that one of the worst teams in NHL history had more wins through the first 3 months of the season than this one does. It's inexcuseable, its pathetic and these guys should be utterly embarrassed. Bylsma isn't getting through to this team, his system doesn't work, he wants to play not to lose instead of playing to win and its killing this team. They are not built to play scared they are built to a wide open game and have the D get involved. The strength of this team isn't playing defense.

EICHEL What a freaking move!!!!

They have enough talent to not be in last place in the Eastern Conference and a team that can't score. If anything they should be playing wide open hockey trying to outscore over teams

Meanwhile over in Columbus, a team that finished 5 points worse than Buffalo last year, 2nd last in the Eastern Conference is currently on a 12 game winning streak and has the most points in the NHL, after having demolished Pittsburgh, who has the 2nd most points in the NHL, 7-1 yesterday...this team also put up a 10 spot on Montreal earlier in the year to hand them their first loss... 17 goals in 2 games? That would take us at least 10 games to hit that total... I'm no fan of Tortorella, but he is getting more than could be expected from them right now. So you look at Tortorella getting more than could be expected and then compare it to Bylsma getting far less than could be expected...big difference

Yup...its hard to out-defense the other team and win 1-0 when that happens...

We have enough pieces in place to be scoring at a drastically improved rate over the 2014 team which almost set an NHL record for fewest goals per game and yet we are not... Meanwhile a Columbus team who finished 2nd last in the Eastern Conference 5 points behind the Sabres last year just won their 12th straight game and is leading the NHL in points... Are they that much more talented than the Sabres(doubtful) or does their coach just use them properly?

Except he isn't doing what he said because I'm quite sure if he told Murray he would take his offensively gifted team and make them play this putrid style he would have never been hired

Would you buy into the system if you have a bunch of offensively talented players and your system is to try and out-defense teams to win games 1-0?

We have PLENTY of goalscorers, Bylsma won't let them play to their strengths

Hopefully not long...Bylsma seemingly has no clue how to get this offensive talent on this team to score goals, have any offensive imagination or play to their strengths...in fact he seems to want to try to turn them into to something they are not and will never be, a defensive team...he needs to go, he is losing his players, they aren't succeeding, they aren't improving, they are spinning their wheels and stagnating

I'm sure all his players really loved how Eichel wasn't on either PP unit last night for the first PP of the night right after the Sabres went down 1-0...brilliant move Dan...brilliant...take your Superstar player off the ice when he will pretty much be guaranteed to be in the offensive zone and replace him with....umm...Foligno?? I know he got crazy style points for fixing his hair before the fight and he became an instant NHL Network legend but cmon...let's use some damn sense...

Rex gets more out of his team than Bylsma gets out of his...

This team desparately needs a new coach...because he is doing NOTHING with the talent he has here except stifling them into boredom and not wanting to play for him...

Bylsma is turning a highly talented offensive team into a team with no identity, no offensive imagination, no offensive confidence, and no wins... This dude is NOT the right coach for this team. The sooner he leaves the faster we can start actually improving...we are just spinning our wheels with him right now.

Is this team just going to let the other team score first the rest of the season? Get your heads out of your in the beginning of the game for once this year.

Lehner's career save percentage in shootouts is an abysmal 56.3%...which is likely lower than that now(this was after the Detroit game about a month ago)... The league Average is 69%... The all time leader in shootout save percentge? Jhonas Enroth...maybe Murray needs to put a litle more stock in shootout points...we 4-5 points lower than we should be because we can't pick up points in shootouts...that matters...that's real world make or miss the playoffs at the end of the season... Anders Nilsson is above average in his career in the shootout with a 71% save percentage....he also has a lower GAA and higher in game save percentage than Lehner this year...maybe dangle that carrrot in front of Lehner with Nilsson playing so well...tell him he will be the backup until he can start proving he can start making some saves in shootouts in practice...