Pimlach

They played good for 2 periods but did not finish. Then they flubbed the 3rd period. Leadership and cool confidence are missing. Maybe they get hot soon and string some W’s.

The eye test matches the numbers. Quinn was not firing the puck enough. I watched and waited for the quick accurate release a few times but it didn’t happen. Instead he was looking to make a pretty pass. Cozens is still regressing. Weak shots, slow decisions. Thinking too much. Not nearly good enough for a 2C. Not worthy of an A. Adam’s put a lot of weight on kids.

Ok, finally home from the Keybank. It was exhausting getting out of there and onto the 190. Especially after a hugely disappointing effort by the home team. Cops blocking off roads, not much of it made sense. The new scoreboard was excellent. The crowd was excited and ready, but I heard lots of complaints prior to the game about the state of the team. Pegula is not a popular owner. The young lady who sang the anthem was excellent. They honored Ruff before the game. He was focused and looked appreciative. The Sabres were dull for much of the first period. Power play was lousy. The PK was good, especially Clifton who set up the breakaway to McLeod which got a penalty shot, but was stopped. The second period was better. The power play continued to suck but Tuch scored on the PK. Krebs defended a teammate and got tossed around and hit in the face when he was down. The ref missed an interference/ boarding hit that caused the entire scrap. Going into the 3rd I got to my seat late and missed the Kings first goal which came at the 13 second mark. The crowd was pissed. I was told they stood around and then BANG. Tie game. The Sabres had many chances to score and failed. There was a terrible penalty called on Zucker who then went to the box and broke his stick to earn a misconduct and a good night. Samuelsson took a stupid slashing penalty and it was quickly a 5 on 3. The Kings put out a big guy to stand in front of UPL. They worked the puck until the had a perfect screen. No one bothered to move the big guy in front and BANG. Kopitar got his second. Then he got a third into an empty net. Then I watched Cozens break his stick over the net, skate to the bench and break another stick. I’ve never seen such a childish display. It was Eichel-like, only worse. The Sabres out played them. Out shot and out hit them but they failed to score and their PP was not effective once again. Who played good? Clifton and Malenstyn stood out. Clifton set up Thompson, who hit a post. He set up McLeod. Clifton was solid on the PK and he got involved. Malenstyn has bad hands but he hits and is very fast. UPL was not heavily tested but made sone good stops. Tuch was hustling and scored on the PK. Benson and Greenway were noticed. Who was disappointing? Thompson had chances but missed and missed and missed. Quinn failed to shoot the puck on several open opportunities which disappointed me and the crowd. They need goals, not fancy plays. Who was bad? Samuelsson cost us the game with a terrible penalty. Cozens is not a 2C Cozens was terrible, has a bad shot, and he acted like a child. Byram. I don’t get it. He jumps into the offense a lot but so far has not produced. I am not impressed with any part of his game so far We stink up the middle Thompson is not a 1C. Cozens is not a 2C. The Mittelstadt trade is looking worse with each passing game. Zucker didn’t do much, $5M for what? That was Mittelstadt’s money. Adam’s worked on the bottom 6, but he will learn that it’s the top 6 that is not performing. Our top 6 is struggling big time. I go to about two or three games a season since the Pegula era started. I think I’ve seen 1 or maybe 2 wins. I hate that this franchise has fallen so low for so long. The experience in the building was mediocre, mainly because of the way the team played. Trade the owner Start over.

The new scoreboard is nice. GO SABRES MUSCLE WEIGHT

John, Downtown Buffalo is 500 times better now than in our day. There is business conducted down there and the office space is mostly utilized. Many young people work and live DT, or at least hang around after work. In the summer there are outdoor events and live music going all the time. I am thinking of hitting Cobblestones for dinner, in the Cobblestone District right next to HSBC. Lets Go Buff-a-lo (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap). Ooh - Ahh - Sabres on the warpath!

No brainer. Gotta support the team.

Or you trade away Eichel, Reinhart, Montour, Ullmark, Mittelstadt, and others and are still trying to replace them with prospects and low end free agents.

The Texan game has a definite concern. The Raven game is pure speculation. He walked off unphased, he was more concerned about getting the flag, and he required no attention on the sideline. If you want to look up every hard hit he took, and post that maybe he got a concussion on each one, go ahead. I said my peace.

Well yes, he moved out on Skinner and still had cap room to improve that position. He didn't do it unless Kulich can score 35 goal this year. Kulich + Zucker + McLeod still might not get us 35.

Sure, everything has a probability, some are low and some are high. You can find a replay like that one in just about every football game and for just about every QB.

The protocol might indeed be a joke. I am concerned for him as well. But "online chatter" that he was concussed in the Baltimore game is a big reach. He was off in the Houston game because the game plan stunk, the WRs stink, the OL was getting beat, and he simply missed the throws that were there.

NFL next game record after an in season coaching change is 16-21 since 2000

I will go with Bah'stin and Trono.

I think he scored in his first NHL game and then that was it. He just did not do anything after that.

Or this ...

But an unmitigated disaster implies that there were things that were seen or sensed, that could have been avoided in advance. But were not. If this season ends in a disaster ,then you have to look at what happened and why (root causes identified), and then you can call it unmitigated if the Sabres FO was lax and unprepared. Lax and unprepared is a common state for the Sabres under TP.

Could be a wake up call? Could not matter at all in terms of TOI.

Which are neutralized by Krebs-TNT-Tuch.

These Euro trips should be given to the better and more veteran teams. The Sabres needed to stay home and work. This group has a lot to learn. The season is a long one. I still think they can be competitive. I’ll be there on Thursday and I hope the crowd is behind them.

The guy is 64. He just spent over a week on the road in Europe. He was probably tired. This surprises me. Several have said that Buffalo never reached out.

It not a matter of trust for me, its experience. He could have played in Rochester and in Buffalo, which helps him and the entire organization. It would have been ok to start him in Rochester and give him a lot of work. But I guess they will go with Levi as the 2 and if he plays even with UPL, or better, then they can deal with the contract stuff sooner rather than later.

I hate to give up my prediction that they make the playoffs this year and that Ruff fixes a lot of problems. Its only two games. So I will die on the Hockey Battlefield and predict 95 points and a playoff berth.

Bye bye NAK. We hardly knew ya.