DarthEbriate

I'm awake; I made it. Who plays hockey at 9 am? Justin Bailey sighting. (on the worst roster in hockey, but whatever)

Unrepentant Packers fan going to check in to the thread for a moment here because I'm not sure I'm going to be awake for the Sabres game tomorrow. @Buffalonill High five! And I hope the Bills do well tomorrow, too. Back to the game. Why are you challenging that? Just let them run the clock. And keep running them off the turf.

If Vancouver scores an ENG, I want the next faceoff to result in 150 PIMs.

Odd man rush for the Sabres and instead of driving the net and maybe looking for a trailer, they hang up high for the trailer immediately and don't even get a shot on goal because there's a thing called backchecking and good teams do it.

Clifton... you had all the time in the world to... sky it all the way to the opposite end? Make sure you get the change there.

So far he and... whoever is in Winnipeg... are running away with it.

They tried the TNT decoy low cross. Damned shame of a fantastic save by Demko though.

Seems like Cole could've been called for holding two, tree, times on that. But the tackle earns the call.

This Sabres team needs a line brawl in the very worst way. (And having Dahlin safely off the ice during it wouldn't be a bad thing.)

Tuch, you better be running everyone. Unleash your anger!

The response to JT Miller should have Girgs, Greenway, Tuch, TNT, Robinson, Okposo (to really send a message and risk concussion). Anyone older than the age of 25 who isn't a defenseman.

Get over there UPL!

That shouldn't be EJ! Use a forward. Idiots.

I was thinking this game would be low-penalty for flights. But... some retaliatory elbows and shoulders could turn this into something interesting, and even some fights.

So... the top D-pair is now both likely in concussion protocol?

Umm. Owen, that's not really how to fight, buddy.

Ryan Johnson usually can skate out of trouble, but he tried to split 2 Canucks instead of going up the boards... lucky that didn't result in a goal.

Muel to the dressing room for a concussion evaluation. (Now, if this were the NFL, like the 1-play Justin Fields concussion evaluation, he wouldn't miss a shift.)

Cozens' speed should have at least resulted in a shot on goal there. I thought he was going to go wide and then cut to the net and force Zadorov to have to skate or tackle him. He played into the easy hit and rush breakup.

Benson out-leveraged Myers for a possession/turnover. Q. Hughes pinned TNT and easily walked away with the puck. Being lower/shorter stick does allow you to more quickly a handle on the puck along the boards if you know what you're doing. (And neither Myers or TNT being likely to just wipe you out helps as well.)

Nice shift. Nifty Mitts. And their reach creates some turnovers and further shots.

Judge Benson by his size, do you?

Tuch will occasionally get a deflection goal, and -- as in the Ottawa game which resulted in a goal -- he'll do a flyby screen to aid Thompson's shot. But when the opponent is rightly locking TNT down, they aren't willing to keep someone in front to muck around and get those garbage deflections/rebounds.

Gah, JJP flubbed it.

The Canucks are an interesting case because although they probably should have tanked (and fans begged them to), they didn't. Instead, they went into a slow downward spiral as they hung onto the Sedins through to retirement. They drafted 5th (Juolevi), 5th (Pettersson), and 7th (Quinn) at their worst. Oddly, they brought in lots of veterans (some with silly contracts by UFA or trade): Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, OEL) to remain competitive even as they failed scuffled. Also, lots of ex-Sabres wound their way through: Miller, Vanek, and Myers notably. Justin Bailey, Tim Schaller, and Curtis Lazar less so. Their changes from last season (in addition to continued growth from their home run picks of Pettersson, Q Hughes, and Demko) are: Hronek (instead of OEL) - via trade The really engaged version of JT Miller (as opposed to just worrying about points) Healthy Demko Unheralded UFA pickups like Pius Suter and Sam Lafferty to help solidify the bottom 6. Remaking the D-corps: Soucy, Zadorov (in a 3rd pair role), and finally Hronek again