DarthEbriate

Or did he just miss it entirely? TSN went right to commercial.

And... then he robs Quinn. So... Tosche Station is still wasting time with your friends, you say?

Welcome to Tosche Station, Hellebuyck.

Unnnnnlimmmiteddddd Powerrrrrrrr!

Winnipeg with some serious puck luck.

That's the second recent PP that spanned periods/started a period with a good chunk of PP time where they came out flat and sluggish instead of attacking on the PP. Great opportunity wasted.

Tuch didn't miss a shift.

Tuch has to face up to the shot, not take it on the side like that. Hope he's not busted anything.

1st game back from a long road trip, but they've had a day off.

Skinner, didn't need to do that there, the puck was already won.

Gotta start converting some of these turnovers into goals.

No Muel tonight, eh? Well. Good thing is the team has gotten stronger as a unit since earlier in the season. Boushh is healthy now, too. The can do this. Oh Mitts... His name is Mattias Samuelsson, not Martin.

You can't trade him if he's helping carry you to the playoffs. It happens all the time. You've got to be willing to let him walk, get his $6M+ into his 30s, and have the next guy step up to replace his production.

Welcome to the 'Space!

Down 2-0 to the Pens after one period. As best I can tell from radio coverage, the Amerks are lining up like this (with arguably their best/most healthy roster possible in the season, minus UPL): Murray - Biro - Weissbach Rosen - Malone - Mersch Rousek - Kulich - Hinostroza Bjork - Kozak - Cederqvist (Warren, Jobst, Pekar, Kisakov) Pilut - Prow Bartkowski - Priskie Davies - Eliot (Cecconi, Tischke) Subban Houser

Alexander Nylander with a PP goal. Hey! He's a quality AHLer. Cederqvist responds with his 4th of the season at the front of the crease, but it's under review. WBS squad: Captain -- Taylor Fedun! Alternate - Drake Caggiula! Nylander. And their goalie is Dustin Tokarski (on emergency loan to the Adult Pens). Pittsburgh has become ex-Sabres. No goal! Reason... high-stick.

1:1 for sure. But I think Quinn will be a top-6 winger (in 2025, Quinn-Cozens-Tuch / Skinner-Tage-TBD to feast on 2nd pairings/lines) and so he'll easily outpace VO's production. The question of whether the 3W (Kulich) can meet or exceed Olofsson... that's the tricky part.

I would imagine tallowy-beyond-tallowy duck.

Vinnie Hinostroza has had a weekend to find an NHL suitor but has now reported to the Amerks. The Amerks are on a 4-game losing streak, but are still comfortably ahead of the Laval Rocket for fourth in the North division. Time to go eat some baby Pens. Feast of the Penguins, as narrated by Morgan Freeman.

VO's production is why I was alarmed about folks wanting to trade him this preseason or early on to make room for the kids. Kids are untrustworthy and inconsistent. JJP and Quinn have potential to be great, and they do things VO just doesn't do (transition the puck really well, create space on their own when they're feeling confident and 100% energy, JJP forechecks better, etc.). But they aren't scorers yet. VO might not be consistent, but what secondary scorer is consistent? When he's on, he's on. VO is Peak-VO right now. He's in an ideal spot as a 3W and PP specialist where he's only going to get 15 minutes, but can always be a threat to score. He can get you 30 goals. To me, "Peak-Quinn" is maybe... Patrick Sharp. 25 goals and 40 assists. He's got the vision and ability to carry/distribute that VO doesn't. "Peak-JJP"... I don't know what he compares to. Just a super-consistent middle 6 guy who does everything. 20-30-50? The player I think actually replaces VO is Kulich. I think the trio of those JJP-Quinn-Kulich (on different lines) in two years compared to JJP-Quinn-VO today will be an incredible improvement, even if Kulich doesn't really ever exceed VO's goal totals. (But I think Kulich can match them a few times.) What intrigues me the most is... do the Sabres get to the playoffs this season or next, and if they do, how does VO's game look when the tenacity and intensity ramp up? There will always be seams and zone breakdowns and forgotten guys even in the most ferocious playoff series. But will VO be able to find them? And if he can't do it this season, can he be moved for a 2nd next deadline for a different type of role player more suited for the playoffs for us? And if they don't make the playoffs this season, but are in great shape next season and VO is a big reason why, you don't dare move him heading into the playoffs, even if his game might not translate to the second season. Overall, though, I think this is a good problem to have.

Oh! And he had the Sabres' first fighting major of the season.

This season the plan was to play the kids. Given that, 'Space mostly agreed they needed at minimum a goalie to support Anderson (Comrie), a vet defensive RHD (Boushh), and a 3/4C who could win faceoffs and play defensively.... Jost is not that player. But what Jost is is an active, two-way center who can carry the puck (a bit) who allowed everyone to fit into their proper place. Mitts can take draws, but get out on the wing where he belongs. Krebs gets slotted onto Okposo's line to be an energy guy and hone his craft. The kids get to be a Kids line. VO gets to be a 3W and find soft spots from which to snipe. Asplund is the odd one out, but now you can likely stick him anywhere in the bottom 6 for a few games and not worry about it. Hino... well, Rochester. But Hino can go on either wing if someone goes out long-term. Jost is like a rug that really ties the room together. Wrong idiom. Jost is like a Lando Calrissian. You don't trust him when he first arrives because of his shady waivery past. But in the next movie, he provides a safeguard if Harrison Ford doesn't want to do the flick. You've got a pilot for the Falcon, he gets to have redemption for his betrayal, and he also allows Han to get all silly and execute a love story that was set up in the middle film.

It's a show about a horse who's also a man who was in a very popular '90s TV show. 😇 It's absurd and silly, but its themes are about coping mechanisms for mistakes, loneliness, addiction, depression, and living in the past. It's like being a Sabres fan for the last decade.

The Blues aren't lousy because I don't believe that Buffalo is lousy. They're both middling teams, trending in different directions. They're a 9th-place team that is capable of 3rd-4th in their division if healthy. They will be sellers this season because of the expiring contracts (ROR, Tarasenko) and injuries left them with gaping holes in their roster. Like Buffalo, they had an 8-game losing streak early. Unlike Buffalo, their injuries didn't coincide with that streak. They've lost 8-15 games each from Tarasenko, ROR, Krug, and Buchnevich (their equivalent W1/Tuch, C2 defensive/Cozens?, PP1/Dahlin? (Falk is more their Power), and W2...VO based on production). The other difference has been goaltending. Binnington has been shaky while UPL/Anderson have made the saves they need to. It's a team Buffalo needs to beat (and did! despite the back-to-back vs. StL being well-rested) if they're going to make a run. But they're not some bottom 10 team that's angling to Bedard. Until they trade everyone. It was a good win.

This team is so much fun this season. Fun is dependent on your point of view, of course. But... whatever you do, don't give up a goal early in the 3rd period. 47 seconds into the 3rd period... goal given up! So much fun.