DarthEbriate

Gotta go get that one back.

Once the Flames slide to Mitts' side, the puck came back to Dahlin and this one goes there, that one goes there, right? Dang. Whoops.

You may fire at will, commander!

Oohhhhh so close. (And Comrie!!!)

Now let's get the Asplund-Mitts-VO line going 5 on 5.

The casual Muel deflection to the screen.

Woohoo! Tuch 'em in to bed. Great shot kid, that was one in a million!

Concussions. And possibly in Joker's case a broken nose or (thank you google:) maxilla bone.

I won't hijack the GDT for it, but here goes. The Packers are the most predictable team you'll face all season. The Shanahan offense is all about running and play-action, but Rodgers has slowly gotten his fingerprints on the offense the last 2 seasons and now is basically always out of the shotgun so the play-action is useless. If Marcedes Lewis (who everyone loves) is on the field it's 90% run. There's no jet motion because of injuries to receiver. Rodgers doesn't trust rookies even though Doubs is the only receiver who can get any separation. His only downfield pass is a rainbow down the sideline. The RPO is only a run or pass, there is no Option because the QB has lost all his wheels. To completely shut them down: all you have to do is show a safety low, Rodgers will ALWAYS audible to pass because he ALWAYS has to make the correct pre-snap read, then you back the safety up into the cover 2 shell and wait for your pass rush to get home. Rodgers once was able to scramble, buy time, and then make any throw, or run for the first down. No more. He has no legs now. OH! And the offensive line. Bakhtiari is finally looking like his old self, but Jenkins (a great guard) is coming off major knee surgery and is playing RT for the first time without full lateral movement. He's got to get moved back to guard but they haven't done it. And the 2nd year RG was a nice story last season as a rookie forced to play because of injuries --- but he's regressed from backup to laughable. But they're sticking with him. (He really could be out of the lineup by the time they play Buffalo.) And every postgame presser they say they need to feed Aaron Jones and then he only gets 12 touches the next game, too. The defense is just as predictable. More zone than man despite having very good corners. No blitzes. It's Kenny Clark and Rashan Gary and Jaire and otherwise a soft, easy-to-run-on team. They'll stay in 2 DL nickel all game and then wonder why they give up 5 yards per carry. It's a defense designed to play with a lead paired with a slow/methodical offense that's been putting up 10 points per game. So... The Bills should win about 45-16 (with Love playing the 4th quarter and accounting for a TD and failed 2-point conversion).

Dang, if Hino could've just buried that for closure on the period....

Who says Casey is slow???? "He shows you his tremendous speed!" That's from the TSN announcer. Mitts has been killing penalties and winning faceoffs. And now scoring shorties.

Good dive, but Tuch just has to keep skating there. Once he starts gliding, he's going to draw the penalty. Kadri wasn't going to get away from him.

He did it!!!!

To the PP we go, now feed some TT and VO

Yeeeeeehawwwwww!

The replay is brutal.

Ouch. Joker took that up high.

Dang. Got caught running around. Hino had it and then flipped it away instead of skating or settling it. Too bad. Calgary coverage lost their announcers. It's soothing to just hear hockey sounds. Except the goal horn of course.

The game is going to look really aesthetically pleasing tonight. Low camera, shiny ice, and 2 lovely sets of unis.

I keep hoping for the Bills except when they're playing the Packers. But next weekend I don't think it's going to be much help hoping one way or the other.

Just think back on the Eichel era as the Prequel Trilogy where he was a kid with a lot of potential that ended up being transformed into a machine and wanting out of the Sabre Academy in the worst way. He and his buddy Reino (Amidala) were then traded for Tuch (Skywalker), Levi (Organa), Krebs (maybe Wedge?), Östlund (TBD), Kulich (TBD), and another still unknown draft pick; their children, if you will. Those characters will be the heart of the Original Trilogy in which 2 Cups Death Stars are skated. (And in the end Eichel may even find some redemption.) I swear, someday I'll rewrite the screenplay as appropriate.

Should be fun tonight. Last season, the Sabres got cratered by Tkachuk/Gaudreau/Mangiapane in one game as the season fell apart in November 2021. Then, the Sabres played perhaps their best game of the season by shutting out Calgary 1-0 in OT on the second night of a back-to-back after collapsing in Edmonton. The Sabres stymied them all night and outshot the Flames 34-24 in that one. Toker started both games. If the March-current 2022 Sabres show up for the full game, Calgary will be hard-pressed to remain in the undefeated column. The marketing department seems to be having fun this year.

The PK was solid. Lyubushkin was good. The second period was well played overall (and part of that was puck possession offensively, even if both goals were just transition/breaks). In the third they backed off in full Alamo Death Star mode and couldn't win a faceoff or outbattle anyone on the boards for possession and looked terrible, but before that there were definite bright spots.

Pretty blatant, but the ref is looking past it at the goal mouth and not at what's happening wide of the net. Maybe Comrie can make a bigger visual deal of trying to tug the stick away, but I'm not sure how else you'd alert the referee in time to negate the shot. It's happening too quickly in real time.

McDavid was so fun to watch last night, even as a Sabres fan. Sometimes terrifying can be fun.