DarthEbriate

He'd be a fair addition to the bottom pair, but methinks the return maxes out at a 3rd.

Winnipeg's been struggling lately. Lost 4 of 5 with barely any goals scored. 4 wins in their last 11 --- but two of those wins were against CHI (before their hot streak) and STL (as they were winding down to a Tarasenko trade). Relying on them for assistance today is a tough ask. Tampa vs. PIT though... that's something we could see. Maybe Paul crosschecks Letang into Jarry and takes them both out.

How many goalies do we got on this ship anyway? <all goalies stand up. Except Michael Winslow who's making skating whoosh, board rattle, and puck hitting post noises> I knew it! I'm surrounded by goalies.

The Sabres sweep their 3-game road trip 4/1-4/6, effectively ending Florida's season and leaving the Sabres with just one point to clinch a playoff spot in their remaining 5 games. Lo and behold, Levi and Portillo both sign. It's now a 5-headed hydra goalie. Levi 2-0 with 1 shutout. Portillo 2-0 with a .938. And UPL gets the final game of the season at Columbus. The Sabres ice an opening night lineup against Carolina in game one of the EQFs of TNT, Anderson, UPL, Levi, Comrie, and Portillo. They play a 1-0-0-4 alignment against Carolina's zone exits. And win. Comrie with the hattie.

More love for Thorny. 4 goals, 4 assists. It’s gonna be really good

Nailed it. Lovely Sabres, keep playing this heart.

We now know the Sabres can defeat a slow, veteran team on back-to-back legs. That's the easy part. Stepping up without Dahlin or Tuch? That's the important part. Now, go win a game without wearing the goatheads. Keep on the attack.

Nope. It's NHL network. All I've got is occasional radio as I wander past about doing chores. I left at 3-2 and got back and it was 6-2. I'm oblivious to all the garbage in the final minutes of the 2nd. I'm living in a world where the Sabres will win handily in the third. Out of curiosity: was it a drop-back or poor pass in the o-zone? Because I'm saying you can rifle it back to a D behind the Sabres net (Power, Joker) and wait for them to try their forecheck again and start another rush.

The Sabres decided they wanted to have the most entertaining bit of hockey this season: the Sabres with a 2-goal lead going into the 3rd. Gotta play smart, not get goaded into anything that allows the refs to try even and let the power play decide things, and ramp up the speed. Run the Caps out of the rink. None of this 20 shots against garbage. Hold the puck, skate fast, pass fast, and don't be afraid to pass back and reset and continue to hold it. And strike a few more times, too.

At or around this time the Sabres will be locking up their Cup-defending core of Levi, Kulich, and Östlund, while paying Power and Dahlin. And everyone wants to pay a 30 year-old (Skinner’s age now) McDavid who’s never won squat in the playoffs for his age 30-38 seasons as the highest paid player in the league. He’s going to still be a ppg guy but his legs will begin to slow down in year 2 of the deal and he’ll be past his prime.

Good. Gooooood. A bit of adversity. Now we see what kind of team we really have. When the going gets tough, can they get excited and ready for a desperate and veteran Caps team? Opening shift, VO should run Tom Wilson instead of wheeling away. Catch him completely unexpected and get him worried about the mighty VO all game. Throw a changeup at them and set the tone.

Nah. The Sabres will be winning quite enough without him crushing 16% of the cap by himself. I'm guessing he's rumored to Toronto because he was born within 35,000 km of there. My sleeper is he skates with Crosby (on a discount deal) for a couple season and the Penguins just keep the superstar center thing going. Most likely he goes somewhere sunny, warm, and without state income taxes.

As much as I'd like to see Rousek, now is not the time. Hino is a veteran with good speed by NHL speed standards. He has played a bunch with Cozens if you want to revise the 2nd line and move Quinn to the top. Or he can play on Thompson's wing if it's just going to be this week and you want to keep the rest of the team chugging along. We'll see how HCDG sees initially it this morning. (I'd play Hino over Asplund, honestly.)

When you're having a magical season everything goes right. Happy for Ullmark. (Hope they have an absolute meltdown in the 1st round of the playoffs.)

Get Tuch a bacta tank! All miniscule sample sizes. VO was the RW1 to start the season but Thompson was ice cold and VO didn't help thaw him. Tuch was hot, earned the reunion and the top line took off. I'd give Quinn the first look, then I'd check on JJP just for fun if a game is well in (or out of) hand. Third up: Hinostroza. Veteran speed and nothing is more rewarding than getting the shot on the top line upon the return to the bigs. Sleeper is Rousek. He plays the wing, is speedy, and has some talent in digging in the corners -- he's no Tuch but his game trends in Tuch's direction is my understanding. Plus he's the Amerks leading scorer and I'm thinking he's the Hino replacement as 13F next season anyway: give the kid a shot if it's just a week. Gotta rewatch that. Bubo!!!

STL and PIT have both lost 4 in a row. We'll see if Berube's anger in the last postgame will wake his squad up, but after moving out Tarasenko and ROR, I'm not sure we should be counting on the Blues to provide much assistance the remainder of the year. Tampa. In the next 5 games, TBL can do the Sabres a bunch of help: @DET, @PIT, FLA, PIT, @BUF. 4 wins followed by a loss in Buffalo would be a lovely week for the Lightning (and for us).

8-4 over the Rocket tonight. Cederqvist with a fight to spark things. Mersch and Kulich with 2 goals each. Rousek 1G 2A.

Err, um... <pushes blast shield up into helmet> Technically, the Sabres are already in 7th by points percentage. Detroit already is in 8th. And these are the two teams with 3-4 games in hand on all of last year's playoff teams.

Thinking back to the flat game vs. Toronto.... Play onward, Sabres. Tickle this fickle heart.

His father he is not. Edit: (Though... he is really good offensively.)

Yup, as expected Tkachuk sends a message to no one after the end of the game. Your team is behind in the standings against the Wings and Sabres (and Isles). And everyone's got games in hand, to boot. You might as well quit and sell off at the deadline.

Great shot kid, that was one in a million! (or... you know, similar to a couple goals earlier this season)

Work complete! Hockey begins! Can't say I like that since they took the 2-goal lead they've been playing "Sabres with a 2-goal lead" style hockey. The most exciting period in hockey! Sabres entering the third with a 2-goal lead! Remember the Death Star Alamo and here we go:

Yup. Annnnnd... they gave up a top-10, a 2nd and 3rd to get him. They're resigning him to the longest term they can and he'll get paid for it. Their alternative is to bridge him back to UFA (or maybe RFA if 1-year?) and then trade him. But they won't be getting a top-10 pick in return. Edit: Based on his production, he should be asking for a Skinner-level deal.

For tonight's game... A Sabres loss doesn't end the season, it just means Florida had a 3 full days' rest to get ready this while the Sabres played last night. And while the Panthers will be up 4 points with 4 more games played, they've been consistently middling all season so there's no reason for them to suddenly put it all together now. A Sabres win doesn't win the season, it just means Florida was lazy from 3 full days off and missing Barkov while the Sabres were hopped up on Force-Lightning from last night. And the Sabres will be even with 4 games in hand and has been consistently streaky all season so there's no reason to worry about a single win now. And the Panthers will completely fall apart as a result and be sellers by the end of next week. Also --- expect Gudas, et. al. to attempt to hurt people tonight. Tonight is a playoff game for Florida.