DarthEbriate

And... by his standards... Eichel is having a phenomenal year.

He's a perfectly good actor. Sideways didn't do it for me, though he was good. I just don't like his Einstein. Or... maybe it's just that it's the only commercial ESPN+ shows.

I just don't believe in this guy playing Einstein in the Verizon commercial on Hulu/ESPN+. There's got to be a better Einstein out there.

Just remember everyone: if you're drunk, just close your eyes while you type. Your muscle memory can't be fooled and the words will likely be much more coherent. Dang it. Bad way to end the second.

Great shot by Tage, right to the glove. Sure.. sure... I see we already scored and you're all yelling Cozens. Big deal. COZENS!

No. No ripping. Just roughing.

To the power play! Waiting on a commercial... did Kaprizov rip Dahlin's bucket off?

Oh... Wild... you thought you had a lead?

Great dodge by Krebs to not killed by Foligno. DAHLIN!!!!!

Fleury with absolutely no chance. The target area is only two meters wide... but Tage has been bulls-eyeing womp rats and they're not much bigger than two meters.

We're on a powerplay? Hulu has totally let me down. I'm still saying: Time to wake up, gents! The second period has not been anything like the first. Go get after it.

Now that's a film I've not seen in a long time. A long time. (I wonder if it's aged well at all.)

Better movement on the PP than we've seen since the blizzard. Practice is helpful. Would've loved to get out of the first 2-0, but there's no denying which team was superior through 20.

Nice step-up by Boushh there to force the offside. His skating looks to be back to pre-injury status.

Tuch almost. Nice counter and a beautiful stretch pass.

All too easy. You know where Victor will be waiting. (And nice clear from the zone by VO to start it.)

And he had an excellent early shift as well (unsure if it was his first, though). Outmuscled Foligno for a puck.

The Sabres look like they finally had a practice or two.

Jost (team that waived him) and Mitts (home state team) are motivated on that first shift.

^ This is good. Gustavsson has been playing recent-Luukkonen-level for them and has earned their home game tomorrow night. The Wild have a really odd scheduling quirk this week --- today at BUF, tomorrow home STL, then right back east at NYR and NYI. The STL doesn't appear to be a make-up game, but it is an oddity. Zuccarello is day-to-day. If he's out or slowed significantly that's an enormous plus for the Sabres. The Wild are just as hot as the Sabres. 15-5 in their last 20. This should be a ton of fun. Keep playing fast -- don't let Krebs get into any theatrics with Foligno, Reaves, Dumba, or Middleton. Just skate around them.

It's the offense. The 8-game losing streak was an aberration from defensive injuries and the lessened ability to transition and counter. They still scored 3 or more goals in 4 of those losses. During the current 7-1 stretch, they've scored fewer than 3 goals 1 time (the Ottawa loss), and that is with the Kid Line completely disappearing off the scoresheet (1G, 3A from Quinn & JJP). They're still almost at 4 gpg, almost 0.2 gpg ahead of Boston. The sample size is large enough that one-game explosions aren't changing things. Stay healthy, keep the goaltending average, and this offense will guide them to 7-3 out of every 10.

This 13 game in 21 day stretch starts with MIN and WPG at home concludes at WPG and at MIN to close out January. In between are a ton of winnable games based on how the Sabres have been playing. (And Seattle, which has proven so far to be a horrible matchup for the Sabres... but the Kraken have never faced Samuelsson.) Split with MIN and WPG at worst, and keep skating fast every night. Get the JJP-Cozens-Quinn line going again. Keep the goaltending average to above and this could be really fun in February.

Decent night thus far for the Sabres. The Predators beat the Caps in regulation, the Panthers-Red Wings doesn't go to overtime, and Calgary is up 2 on the Islanders (still early).

I was referring more to last season's 13 goals with a few very good shots that beat unscreened goalies cleanly, which I've not really seen from Asplund. Hino only has 17 shots on goal this season, so the sample size isn't there.