DarthEbriate

It's not so much the injuries as the who is injured and who replaces them. Joker is a 5/6 (I think someday he can be a Lydman-type, but right now at his age and experience he's a 5/6), but the Sabres use him as 3/4 and top PK guy. Muel is a 3/4 guy but the Sabres use him as top-pairing lockdown defensive D and Dahlin's life preserver. Lyubushkin is a defensive 5/6, and the Sabres use him accordingly. And Dahlin missed a game, too. Taking 2 top PKers (Joker/Muel) out of the lineup, limiting Boushh with a foot injury so he's not as mobile or able to be physical, and then missing Dahlin for a game... and replacing them with Bryson and his clone Pilut (both 7/8 at best) for extended minutes is a big problem, especially for an offense-first team made up of kids. Fitz maybe could replace Boushh for a few games, but when all 3 of those guys or Clague are in the lineup, it's a bad situation. Then, take Okposo out of the lineup and neither goalie making a big, game-changing save, it's a recipe for disaster. Next year, they'll be able to weather a rash of injuries better from the forwards and goalies.

One post and two days. It's a good newcomer approach --- that or the Bernier 2-goal special.

Clean up the penalties a bit and keep the energy high, because tomorrow the buzz in the building with the goatheads is going to carry you through the backend of the back-to-back.

So... it's going to be 18-6 at the first intermission?

It is the future you see!

Muel plays; Dahlin scores. It's as simple as that.

Boom! My preseason prediction of "Will any Sabres center win greater than 50% faceoffs?" is off to an excellent start. Sheahan. 10 faceoffs. 7 wins. The leader is in the clubhouse.

Nah, GM Sheevyn is still wishing he could somehow get Jost on a $750k contract. There's always room for improvement.

Just like dragging Hall's husk around for half a season (and missing the playoffs) netted us drafting Unlimited Power!

HCDG's a madman! Now he's got Muel and Dahlin on the third pair! If you hurry, you can overreact to a practice, too. Oh! All this excitement has overrun the circuits on my right winger here. If you don't mind, I'd like to give him a day for maintenance.

This is it. Ullmark was a very solid and improving goalie (.917 behind a dismal Sabres defense for 2 seasons), but he had two non-contact knee injuries. Trade him to a contender with a questionable backup/starter/injury at the deadline. And if he prices himself out of a return, then so be it. If he doesn't and you like him, bring him back. But you either trade him or you lock him up way before free agency. If the injuries scare you, you deal him at the trade deadline and don't bother with him in UFA. Never worry about a goalie "blocking" another. You always need two. And if you can trade one, they're easy to trade because it's a critical commodity for any playoff team.

Honestly, at this point I'll say Jost. Not because he's got any snarl to his game whatsoever, but because he's the new guy and he'll want to show his dedication to the team by jumping in to someone's defense. Fighting is mostly gone from the game and I'm mostly fine with that. Its overall usefulness is minimal because of the instigator penalty. And yet, I think this team desperately needs a fight to bring them together and wake them up and shake them from the doldrums. Probably a line brawl, honestly. What they really need is an instigator/rat who keeps them on their edge because they never know when they'll need to answer for his antics. (And no, although Skinner is the closest they have to a rat, he's not one...he's a talker, but he's not nearly dirty enough and he won't ever stick up to anyone who wants to fight him.)

That may be. But it was perfectly executed and what the play needed. Contrast that with Tuch's spin and blindly fire the puck up the boards when on the PK, directly to the D holding the wall for a turnover. That's players executing the fundamentals and being situationally aware of the time and space they have/where their teammates are.

Whichever game Muel returns to the lineup.

I'm hit! My wife wants to go out for dinner and I can't stay with you. (And I'm just as reluctant as Wedge was to stay alive and blow up a Death Star another time.) Sorry! I hope the Sabres stage an amazing comeback and win in regulation, sending Toronto and its fans into a tizzy.

Lack of response from Toronto after Tage goes skate-on-skate with the goalie. Weaklings! Start a fight you cowards!

<tugs collar> Nyuk, nnuyk,... claiming Jost and his top-10 pick status but no supporting fancy stats since juniors off of waivers?

UPL has been alright, but he's not stealing the game tonight with the team playing this way in front of him.

Huh... I guess the net doesn't need to be there in a video review.

What a fantastic little chip by Kampf past Dahlin to spring that breakaway.

That would've been a goal had the net stayed on. It had slipped inside the post hole.

No call for too many men, sloppy behind the net, and then in.

He's at his best in close, but no one slows down on a rush more and attempts to flip his hips more rather than just going for it.

Tuch had more time to clear that than to just turn and fire. UPL gets beat on a deflection, otherwise it was going right into the glove. Tough.

This is a decent 4th line considering the injuries (Asplund-Sheahen-Hinostroza). They're not going to score unless it's Hino off a turnover, but they're going to contest everything all over the ice.