deluca67

The Sabres are chasing centers like the Bills are chasing a QB.

That is complete BS. Vanek and Pominville carried this team from Game 1 in Europe. Vanek's production actually dropped at the end of last season scoring 4 goals over the final 20 games. If anything, Marcus Foligno had a far greater impact on the Sabres in his 14 games at the end of last season than Hodgson had at the end last season in 20 games where he was mostly invisible except for a five game stretch.

Ray is another example of fans desperately wanting to connect with a physical player with an edge. Look how fans are going crazy over John Scott. Usually you can see signs of a players willingness to get dirty right off the back. IMO, if it's not part of a player's nature it can't be added later.

They have a player like Hodgson on the team now, he's called Drew Stafford.

I've seen dozens of Hodgsonesq players in a Sabres uniform over the years. At the end of the day Hodgson is another soft skilled forward that has plagued this franchise for far too many years. It's not just a Kassian thing, there is reason Marcu Foligno will be a far more popular player in Buffalo than Hodgson, because long suffering Sabre fans are dieing to have big physical skilled forwards in a Sabre uniforms.

Hopefully the Bruins game is a start of a hot streak for Tyler Ennis. Weber, Sekera and Ehrhoff carried the day on the blue line for the Sabres, they need bounce back games from Myers, Leopold and Sulzer to give the Sabres a more consistent game from the blue line. Vanek and Pominville are putting up some MVP type numbers early in the season. The Sabres scored 7 goals against the Bruins and only 1 did not involve Vanek or Pominville. The story will be secondary scoring until someone else starts to show up on the scoreboard with some consistency.

That must have been the Lindy effect, the same effect that ruined Paul Gaustad. Kassian needs to play a big man's game. As he matures he will realize that a huge portion of NHL forwards would much rather make it through an NHL game with any contact. Kassian should be able to use his size and physical nature to make the Canucks a more difficult team to play against physically and make opposing forwards very uncomfortable on the ice. That will allow Kassian and his line-mates to be more effective.

The Sabres where down 3-1 at one point, so any effect the Scott/Thornton fight may have had is minimal. The Sabres beat the Bruins because Vanek went off and Miller played like an elite goaltender in the third period. Not because two designated fighters went at it. If you want to look at an unsung hero of the game try Mike Weber who played a pretty physical 21 minutes (6 hits, 4 blocked shots) which was important considering how poorly one half of the defense corp played (Myers, Leolpod & Sulzer). During the pregame on WGR, they were talking about a comment Regier made about the need to bring in Scott because some of the Sabres forwards played scared. A great point was made and I forget exactly who said it. If you have players that scared you don't bring in one player to protect them, You get rid of the scared forwards and bring in forwards who are bot afraid to play the game. That's where I am at with John Scott. He brings a faux-toughness to the Sabres. Players like Ott, Weber and Foligno bring real toughness to the Sabres, not the Andrew Peters types who I had hoped were gone from the NHL forever.

It shouldn't take 20 minutes to make wing sauce. It should take about 5 minutes at medium heat to blend the butter, hot sauce and any spices you may add. Reducing the sauce will only make the sauce taste overly salty. That's fine if that's the flavor you are shooting for. I prefer a smoother flavor and a velvety texture. You should be able to just coat the back of a spoon.

As LPF said, right now Vanek and Pominville are better than the Sedins. From the beginning of last season they may be better than a Crosby/Malkin combo. This season is a continuation of what we saw last season. As I said in another thread, we are seeing LaFontaine/Mogilny type production.

Kassian is banging bodies and dropping the gloves with the likes of Ryan Clowe. I'm sure there is some additional confidence from the early offensive success which can be a benefit of playing with the Sedins. The physical part of the game is all Kassian. Hodgson doesn't bring much more than any offensive success he is having. His face-off percentage is at 38.6 percent. As of today Vanek and Pominville are in the top four in scoring in the NHL. Neither Sedin are currently in the top 50 in scoring.

I prefer Frank's, butter, white pepper and celery salt.

If Myers continues this 2+ season long trend it can be very devastating to the Sabres. They have a monster investment in this kid that they really need to payoff. I'm not sure what Lindy can do to turn the kid around. I am pretty sure that playing him with Leopold isn't helping.

The Top 5 scorers in the NHL are from the Sharks & Sabres. Vanek's and Pominville's production reminds me of the Mogilny/LaFontaine era. After a horrendous second period, Miller player a third period you'd expect from a goalie some consider elite. Despite the the lack of scoring, Stafford is playing well. If he could continue playing this way and score as he did two seasons ago that would really be something. Despite the goal, Sulzer had a bad game as did Myers and Leopold. I was hoping someone other than Scott would have fought for the Sabres, it had the feeling of one of those staged fights that were way too common years ago. Is there not a rule in place that heavily penalizes players/teams for starting scrums at end of games? The end of the game seemed like a huge waste of time.

Vanek & Pominiville are carrying this team as they did before anyone even heard of Cody Hodgson.

I fully expect Miller to get run tonight. The Bruins have no respect for the Sabres and they no reason to have any.

Taking into account the roles each player is supposed to play it looks like Vancouver is getting more out of Kassian at this point. Kassian 19 hits & 2 fights, Hodgson 0 assists. The goals are gravy for the Canucks at this point.

There's nothing "adolescent" about being aggressive. This team spent the entire off-season adding aggression to the roster, why is it wrong to want to see some aggressive coaching? Leopold is a place holder. On a team desperate for difference makers, they shouldn't be wasting a roster spot on just another player. Spots on this roster should be filled with players that have a future with the franchise not players like Leopold, Scott or Ellis.

Leopold and Miller both looked horrible on the OT goal. I just can't consider the Sabres defense as having "depth" when they have to play Leopold, if your defense is deep than Leopold can't even make the roster. The good news is that it is only game six of the season. The troubling news is that the Sabres just gave away 7 of 8 points. The season is too short for prolonged losing streaks. The Sabres need to bank some serious points this week. Falling behind early in a sprint can be devastating to their playoff chances.

Is there a coach with a system that can win with this roster? I really doubt it. That's not meant to take away from the disappointment in the development of some individual players. Overall this team has no identity and their strengths are theoretical. You can't win with that.

The Sabres had fewer shots and were outscored 1-0 in the second period and Rob Ray says the second period was a "much better period for the Sabres." :doh:

We asked for someone other than Vanek and Pominville to create some scoring. Unfortunately Hodgson is creating it for the wrong team.

Leopold? He's a below average defensmen and has no future in Buffalo beyond this season.

Slap Shot - Right Back where we started from. No video on Youtube from the scene. Just this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUntPFyL178 Hangover - Joker and the Theif.

Hodgson will lose that battle ten times out of ten. If I am a Capitals forward I am begging the coach for shifts against Myers and Leopold.