msw2112

This was another game that was mysteriously missing from my ESPN+ feed. I was able to find, on ESPN+, the 1 1/2 minute highlight reel, and decided to watch that in lieu of watching the game. Once again, they did me a favor.

In a slight overpay.

I agree that Kesserling looks pretty terrible so far. While Doan was more than just a "throw in," Kesserling was still the major piece coming back in that deal. At this point, Doan is the much better asset and is saving the trade from being, at this point, a disaster for the Sabres. Kesserling may be fine in time, but the team is in such disarray right now that I don't see that happening anytime soon.

I realize that it's a small sample size, but I thought the team was playing better and starting to "find itself" prior to the recent rash of injuries and Dahlin's leave of absence. Since those things have happened, the team has lost all confidence. They know they can put forth their best effort and they still can't win, so why bother? They're mentally cooked and are just going through the motions. Yes, the injured players and Dahlin can come back and the team can regain its footing, but by that time, they'll be so far out of the race that it won't matter. I missed the 1st 2 periods last night. I joined the broadcast - the Utah broadcast - in the 2nd intermission and they were talking about how the Sabres had been the better team and had the lead. Then I watched the Sabres crap the bed for the entire 3rd period, looking completely lost and disjointed, while Utah skated circles around them. I don't have the answer, but I'm not a professional hockey coach, GM or executive. That said, neither are the guys running the Sabres right now. Somewhat unrelated - the Utah studio broadcast team was terrible - particularly between periods and after the game. They have a young guy who appears to be Eddie Olczyk's son (Nick) and a red headed woman. They're like high-school level broadcasters. I can't imagine Nick getting that job without his father's last name. It's much worse than Jac Collinsworth and Noah Eagle trading on their father's names on NBC. Jac is annoying, but somewhat competent and Eagle is actually decent. Olczyk is terrible. They make Duff and Biron look like world beaters.

I don't hate Adams and I don't think he's all bad. He's from the area and I believe he loves the organization and wants to do well by it. He's played in the league and even has a Stanley Cup ring. He went to a pretty good college (Miami of Ohio) and has a MBA (albeit from an online program, but it's better not having one at all), so he's not stupid. He now has lots of experience in a NHL front office. He gets along with the owner. So find him a spot in the front office. All of the above said, he's not a very good GM, so get him the hell out of that role. If Jarmo is the guy, I'm fine with that. He's experienced, he's had some success in the role in the past, and he's well respected around the league. Injuries may well be the reason the Sabres season goes sideways, but it's not a good reason to give Adams another bite at the apple as the team's GM. Time may have passed Ruff by, but he's at least had some success in his role in the past and is well respected around the league too. If Jarmo wants to keep Ruff beyond this season, I can live with that. But, for god's sake, please purge the assistant coaches and start with some new blood there. I believe that they're holding Ruff back a little bit. If Jarmo wants to hire a new coach, that's fine too, but Appert CANNOT be the guy.

The optimist in me says that Ellis will play a great game, and suddenly becomes the "hot hand" and then gets the start in Colorado. The realist in me says something else. Plus, back-to-back is tough, especially for a guy coming off of a long layoff and a back injury. I agree with the post above about the Detroit game being more important than the two upcoming West Coast games. Tonight and tomorrow are "2 point games" whereas Detroit is a "4 point game" and you want your best in net for that game. Ellis was great against Detroit in his first start and Lyon is currently the top dog, so you have to figure it will be one of those two and UPL gets the Colorado game. Even if UPL plays well in the Colorado game, I still don't want him in the nets for the Detroit game.

After the poor 3 game start (with defensive injuries decimating the team), Ruff had them playing competitive hockey, and now the offense is decimated by injuries and their top player is out due to a family issue. I think the guys are mentally exhausted and may be throwing in the towel a little bit. I'm just not sure how much longer this lineup can keep the team within a few points of playoff position. It's very difficult to play hard and put your body on the line (blocking shots, etc.) when the team is so depleted that it has almost no chance of winning a game. It's truly paddling upstream. I haven't given up watching...yet...but I just don't see how the lineup, as presently constituted, can complete against good NHL teams. I'm not making excuses for the team's terrible play, but trying to take a realistic look at the situation. Given the years of failure, the team's psyche was fragile to begin with, yet they played hard and stayed (barely) above water. That fragile psyche may now be shattered.

Well, the theory was that UPL got the start against St. Louis over Ellis because of his strong play against Washington. That theory holds up. If he starts again over Lyon and Ellis, then you are correct that the theory that he's starting because of strong play goes out the window. I think of Ellis making two saves against good players on breakaways in the Detroit game, whereas with UPL, if it's a breakaway or 2 on 1, you know the puck will be in the back of the net. I want to believe that UPL still has room to grow and improve, as many goalies don't peak until late 20's or even early 30's, or that he'll find the game he had for 2 months a couple of seasons ago, but the more I see, the more I doubt. I understand the sentiment on this board that UPL letting in a soft goal, or failing to make a big save when needed, deflates the entire team, which makes progress and success much more difficult. It didn't happen against Washington (playing hard and coming back to win after giving up 2 early goals), but seemed to happen against St. Louis last night. UPL aside, missing open nets, hitting goal posts and crossbars, and helping a subpar goalie look great by shooting it into his glove or pad instead of over the pad or glove can also deflate a team. Regardless of what caused it, the lack of wind in the Sabres sails last night was very apparent. Maybe just too many injuries left an experienced and disjoined lineup? All of the above?

If they make it to OT against a Western Conference team, that's not a terrible result. If they make it to OT and WIN, that's a great result. I'd also "settle" for a regulation win....All of this said, because the Blues appear to really suck this year, a win of any kind is a must.

Had Ellis not had back issues, he would have started the 2nd Toronto game, but UPL played instead and wasn't great. I don't know what Ellis' health was for the Washington game, but UPL got the start and, after bad first few minutes (2 early goals), played very well the rest of the game, and was great in the OT and shootout. I think that's why he's getting the start tonight. Ellis is the victim of some bad luck with the back injury, and UPL playing well in his last start (and Lyon being terrific in HIS last start). Given how well he played in first (and only) game, I would also like to see Ellis get some more opportunities, but if Lyon and UPL keep playing well and there are no injuries or illnesses, he may have to wait.

There's no science or math behind this, but I believe that if they win half of these OT games, which should be a reasonable expectation, they'll be fine as far as how it impacts their final point total. That said, it's clearly more important to get that 2nd point against division and Eastern Conference foes such as Boston, Toronto, Columbus, etc., as ceding the "extra" point to teams they're competing with for the playoffs is a killer. Not as big of a deal to lose the 2nd point to Utah or other Western Conference teams. Given how many they've already lost, it's going to be difficult to win half of their OT games for the entire season, but at this point, I'd take half from this point forward AND we need some of those to come against divisional and Eastern Conference teams. It boils down to individuals stepping up and making a play - a player with a chance in OT has to bury it and/or a goalie with a chance to make a big save has to make it. So far, outside of UPL in the Washington game, neither of those things have happened. If the Sabres continue to play at their current level, and perhaps elevate a bit when all of the injured players return, they should be right in contention for 3rd in the division, or a wild card spot, right up to the end of the season. While I'd love for them to be one of the teams that eventually separates from the pack (in a positive way), I'm not sure they're going to be able to do that. What I believe will be different is that in previous seasons when they've been close and fallen short, they've gotten hot and made a run at the end of the season. This season, I believe they'll be in the mix all season long. If it happens that way and they fall short, it will be a disappointment, but at least we'll have seen an entertaining several months of hockey, rather then sleepwalking through October - February and making a little run in March when it's too late, the fans have already tuned them out, and the building is empty.

These pictures add a lot of color to the discussion. After seeing these, I would agree that Tuch was effectively picked when Keller circled back and that Quinn was in a position to see this develop and should have had the sense to step up and take Keller. Kudos to the UT coaching staff for putting together a nice play - looks like a pick and roll in basketball (except that there was no pass - the "rolling" player kept the puck) - and the opposite to the Sabres coaching staff who did not have their guys ready for such a scenario. Yet another thing for the Sabres to work on in film study and practice.

Arizona. The Utah games are blacked out here but I thought I could end around the blackout with a VPN connection. Plus, typically for blacked out games, the game is listed, but it is marked as blacked out. That said, the game wasn't even listed. I looked for it on ESPN+ on my phone, TV, and tablet and it appeared in none of them. I looked at "Live," "Power Play," and "On Demand. I even did a search for "Sabres" and got all previous games, all upcoming games, and highlights from last night's game, but not last night's game itself. This seems to happen to me once or twice every season - a game that undoubtedly is available on ESPN+ just doesn't show up for me. Very strange. I had never tried the VPN before for this, so I didn't know if it would work (sometimes they do, sometimes they don't), but never even got the opportunity to try. Given the blackout to begin with, I wasn't too disappointed, as there was only a chance the VPN would even work, so even if the game had shown up, I still might not have gotten to watch it. I tried it with the VPN on and with it off, and in neither case did the game appear. Of course, it shows up today (see image below), but it was nowhere to be seen last night, and I gave up and saw the result. The only good thing to come out of it was that I slept much better, because I would have stayed up a couple of hours later to watch and would have been pissed off to have invested a couple of hours only to see them lose in OT (again). I'd be interested to know if other Sabrespace members have had this happen - where a game that is supposed to be available on ESPN+ simply doesn't appear (but then shows up the next day).

I was not able to see last night's game. I'm out of market and for some reason, it was not one of the available games on ESPN+. I don't have NHL Network, but I checked online and it wasn't one of their games either, so not sure what the deal was....I was able to see the replay of the OT winning goal and, of course, I'm frustrated to see a Utah player weaving around, through, and by all 3 Sabres to win the game. I don't have any context to what happened before that. What I do know is that the Sabres often get chances to win the game in OT - breakaways, 2 on 1s, 3 on 1s, etc. and can't bury the chance, whereas other teams get one opportunity and the game is over (with the exception of the Washington game in which UPL - of all players - stood tall in OT). Clearly, Tuch lost his man on the spin move and Quinn was not ready to pick him up. I'm assuming that, after all the bad OT losses recently, the Sabres players were instructed to "stay with their man" which may be why Quinn didn't step up and Dahlin wasn't able to pick up Keller either. They were presumably "shadowing" their guys while Keller was Tuch's responsibility. While it doesn't look like it would have broken this way, had Quinn and/or Dahlin stepped up to take Keller, maybe one of the other two Utah players is uncovered, jumps into the play, takes a pass from Keller and they score the winning goal? Speculation and conjecture at this point. It sounds like Lyon played a hell of a game and stole a point. Given the injuries and the fact that Utah has been good so far, maybe that's not a terrible result. On to St. Louis.

Curious who steps in. Does Östlund come back? I assume Benson will still be out.