DarthEbriate

We're just letting them stay close so we can add some empty-netters.

Excellent timeout, great chance by Tuch, and then a major guffaw. Well, the Sabres were waking up. Now stay away, get the response goal, and put the Knights to sleep.

And it's a good thing, as the Sabres are just tossing the puck away in their own zone rather than skating it out.

UPL's got the deflectors on. Double front.

It's been a couple weeks since the kid line looked great. It might be time to let JJP get a suite rest for a night as a refresh. And maybe Quinn for a game next week.

UPL K to the 6th power on that one. K^6

That's one hell of a Pilut!

Wooohooo! Tage will learn patience.

Skinnnnnnnnnerrrrrrr!

Looks like we're going to have to shell Hill into a sub-.900 save percentage in the first period tonight. SchieB das Fenster den FuB. <Exasperated sigh> Shoot at his foot! Always draft a Lechyshyn in any EA NHL franchise rookie draft.

Hopefully, Leinonen starts putting it together this season and next in the Liiga and gets onto Finland's 2024 squad. But it isn't promising since Finland's presumable starter Kokko is also only 18 years old.

INTERIOR: SABRES CHARTER RENTAL BUS: The Enterprise - COCKPIT JEF SOLO: Stand by, Tagey, here we go. Let's get the hockey gear. Solo and Tagebacca don their skates and open the bus door. TAGEBACCA: Grrrrrr. JEF SOLO: What the…? Aw, we've come to the arena and it's some sort of desert playland. Looks like an asteroid shower spewed up architectural designs. The arena isn't on any of the charts. Tagebacca taps the bus' map screen and checks the coordinates. Tuch Icewalker enters the cockpit followed by Dad Kposobi. TUCH: What's going on? JEF: Our position is correct, except… no arena. TUCH: What do you mean? Where is it? JEF: That's what I'm trying to tell you, kid. It ain't there. The nav computer just keeps saying "recalculating". VOICE OF PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE: Recalculating. TUCH: What? Where do we play? DAD: We'll pick you up… by the Enterprise! That's what that goalie always advertised… Never trust the rental car's onboard map system. Use your own phone. Or… what's wrong with using paper charts? Before the online times, before the Enterprise? TAGEBACCA: Grrrrr. JEF: Stay focused, Dad. The map system will find it. There's only a thousand hotels to sift through. It's got us headed for New York, New York. DAD: That's no New York. It's an approximation. JEF: It's too big to be an approximation. TUCH: I have a very bad feeling about this. JEF: Yeah. Turn to the right. Turn right! Tagey, turn that way, toward the Pyramid. TUCH: Why are we still moving towards it? JEF: Tagey is mesmerzied by its red lights. It's pulling him in. TAGEBACCA: Grrrrr. TUCH: But there's gotta be something you can do! JEF: There's nothin' I can do about it, kid. Tagey lights lamps. Me, I'm going to get chippy. They're not going to get me without a penalty! DAD: You can't win gambling. But there are alternatives to taking penalties. JEF: Score more goals? DAD: Score more goals.

If they continue to score 3.97 goals per game, they'll be hard-pressed to be kept out of the playoffs even with a semi-porous defense/goaltending. 52 games to go is a ton of games. (Unless every three games the win one 12-0 and lose two going scoreless.) They do have to ensure that if they lose they get some loser points and also be able to keep Tage hot against the Bergerons, Crosbys, Cirellis, and other solid defensive centers in the conference/division who are going to get matched against him.

<All the defensemen snuggling up in their beds> Hmmmm. Rest they need. Yes.... Rest.

They were 29-25-8 (prior to a 6-game losing streak with Eichel dinged up and Ullmark out [Hutton, Johansson] that would keep them out of the play-in round on the COVID-canceled season) on February 23, 2020.

The kid line is so dependent on the rush for offense, the opposition knows to pressure them immediately to not let them get going. And they were very disjointed tonight from the constant penalties. Cozens and Quinn got plenty of special teams time, but the trio had less than 9 minutes of even strength ice. We've been relying on them as the #2 line and they were red-hot for a couple weeks but they're probably really only a 3 this season and they'll likely be streaky.

++ My scope's negative. I don't see anything. -- Keep up your Cederqvist screening. With him in front of the goalie, the puck will be in the net before the goalie's eyes can pick it up.

Do something about your mullet. / Get out the hair clippers, jerk. Your mullet is the reason people hate you.

This is the way. The left-hand shot on PP2, the better forechecking and all-around game, a bit more feistiness. All yes. The question is: is Kulich playing center at Rochester yet and how is he looking? Could he end up a wing or be the 3C behind in-their-prime Tage and Cozens in 2024 (like a Roy behind Drury and Briere, but with both of them already locked up to long-term deals).

3 goals on their first 6 shots... and then they're being outshot 37-23 and haven't scored since? I guess the goalie switch worked for the Checkers.

So... you're saying its an attack of the clones?

Too bad for Bryson. But if Uncle Owen stays healthy and in the lineup... we'll go get those power play converters.

His usage is very different from last season. Last year he was the RW2 pre-Tuch and remained RW2 during parts VO's lengthy wrist injury. Toward the end of the season he rejoined Girgs-Eakin, but for large stretches he was top 6. He also played all season on the 2nd PP unit and was excellent on it -- several goals working toward the slot from the top of the circle and sniping. This season, Tuch and JJP have taken over the top 6 wing spots and Okposo has been doing a grind line with Girgensons and the likes of Asplund, Krebs, and some Jost. Zemgus does not drive play and Krebs might someday if he maximizes his potential, but the points won't be there compared to last season. But that doesn't mean you sit him when healthy. Okposo is reliable, good defensively and when HCDG needs a spark, it's Okposo who gets moved up to the top line. I forget which game it was, but the Sabres came out flat. Okposo jumped to the top line with Thompson and the attack was on.

Very true. Colorado threw some hits on their forecheck, but they played an overall soft (and frustrating) offensive game. They did not make many trench runs, so to speak. If I were an Avs fan I would've been pretty livid about the perimeter play when down 3 and facing a team with three D who'd rank 7,8,9 on the depth chart playing. I really hope it's minor. If Power had played his usual 23 minutes last night, that's a lot less ice time for the 7,8,9 defenders (and Muel, too). Fewer giveaways, better pinches, much more calm influence in holding the puck and transitions. The Sabres probably get it 6-1 if Power is on the ice to start the third period.

A Hasek-led Sabres team hanging on to a 2-1 lead in the third period and letting Hasek save their bacon was among the most fun hockey to watch ever. Stomach-twisting, but fun and exhilarating.