Pimlach

That’s an interesting thought on the All Star game. His first All Star game he spent time with Hedberg, when he came back he decided to push back and his game got better. He discovered he is pretty strong. It was a turning point moment. Dahlin has never had a veteran defensive leader to work with. He has never had any top cover. Since he was 18 he was tossed into the #1 slot. He actually played 82 games his first year in the NHL. Sure he could clean up his game, he gets sloppy at times. Big workloads give you just as many opportunities to screw up as to shine. I think he will be great someday.

I could not disagree more. Unless great means flawless play, for 25+ minutes every night, while surrounded by a fair number of teammates who stand around watching.

Rough year. This is his third injury that we know about.

What is all this negative Skinner talk? He leads the team in goals, he is just 2 points behind the overall point leader. He is a -1, which is better than any of his line mates. Some nights he looks like the only guy that showed up. Yes, his 200 ft game is not great but very few on this team contribute significantly more? It sounds like some of Peter’s/Rivet toxic garbage seeping in.

Lots of over reacting on Tage. He was put on the line with Greenway and Benson because they clicked at one point earlier in the season when lines were reshuffled due to injury. The 1st line 3rd line thing means little, it’s TOI that matters. Oddly, he played more minutes against Seattle (a bad game) than Ottawa ( a good game) Tage had some injuries to start the season, he had a slow start, more injuries, another baby, his wife is a cancer survivor and that means there is always extra concern for her. He is probably one of the more squared away young men we have had in the organization. He works hard on his game. He is a scorer that can be streaky. I think he needs a few simple adjustments, like less dangle and more of his straight forward strength and power. At some point he has to learn that he can physically dominate if he is willing to get a little dirty. He should be shooting the puck sooner. Too much thinking going on this season.

Sure, I like what Robinson brings, he helps and contributes, but remember that he could not crack the Columbus line up. What he brings is improvement to our bottom 3, looking at him from a league wide perspective he may not be much though. At least we get effort and a willingness to play end to end from him. Agree on Ryan, he should play. So should Clifton. The 6/7 guys are EJ and Joker.

This is clearing out of a player that wasn’t getting a shot. Yes, he was bigger than the average forward, but at 23 is he standing out in his two years in Rochester?

Ryan Johnson, a rookie, should be playing over Joker. He isn’t being played on his off side anymore. His confidence is up too.

You have been a beacon of hope on the roller coaster of a season.

Ok. One in a row.

Ok. Cozens well done.

Fudge. Come on Buffalo. Really bad hockey in our zone. Toughen up

Another weak power play

Mitts getting a great chance on the rebound but Dan and Rob are selling Tage. They drill in a message and stop calling the game.

They only played about 25 minutes of hockey with Seattle. They look better playing Ottawa at least. They are mentally ad physical involved so far. Ryan Johnson finally in and he is getting involved. Scrumming with Tkachuk was good for him.

Krebs. Good work with 50.

JJP has been looking for that. Power play ended and they made a play to the net and shot. Decline all future penalties.

Good Evening Teammates, Punch checking in. Big game and if we are ever going to make a move why not start tonight at home? Fan support is really dropping. In Buffalo, and here at SabreSpace. Lots of empty seats. Goatheads, that used to matter. Maybe the team gets excited tonight Go Sabres, Muscle Weight. Grumble, grumble, …

Yes, he fell but he took a few shots, lost his helmet in the process. Courageous attempt.

Tuch fought him in the first game back in October, I think it was Tuch’s second fight in a week. He did ok, Brady took him down and added some extra shots. Tkachuk is a better fighter, he fights as much as he can. Clifton is the only good fighter on the Sabres team, but he is a middle weight, a pretty tough middle weight. Greenway should hold his own with Tkachuck but he rarely drops them.

Isn’t MW just juju after all? “Must Win”, but don’t say the words or you jinx us (bad juju). Juju - a magical property dealing with luck, superstition, and nonsense. We are fans. We don’t control anything, unless you attend live and maybe your cheering or booing has some effect, however small and short term that may be. You do have control over whether you watch it, attend in person, or follow it by reading the sports media or social media. Or by participating in places like here, reading and voicing your opinion. You control whether you spend your money and time on the product. I am not sure how you can write to Terry and tell him what you think of the direction and performance of this team. Not sure he would read any of it.

We all go through subtle and slow changes in life. When my kids were growing up and my career was important to me, I had less time for following sports. I still followed sports, but the family and the career took precedence. After the Drury/Briere fiasco I started to lose interest in the Sabres, but was more into hockey because I had two sons in youth travel leagues, a big commitment. The Bills were in the midst of the drought, so I had a reduced interest in football too. Now I’m retired. I have more time to watch football and hockey so I do. I would change a few things if I could: 1- NFL Football has gotten very overblown on its coverage. I think it should be scaled back. Get rid of Thursday games, cut the playoffs back to 6 teams. Stop games in Europe. Make officials a full time job. None of this will happen, I realize I’m being a dinosaur on this. 2 - In hockey, I would stop expansion for quite awhile. There are too many teams, we don’t see the great players enough, stop expansion. I would start earlier in the fall, maybe cut some games out, adjust the season to end hockey by the end of April. Hockey cannot compete with baseball in most US markets. Most people here don’t even watch the SC playoffs unless their team is in it. It’s sad. I know this will not resonate with many Canadian fans though. 3 - I wish they would stop showing gambling odds during the games. Gambling is another dependency, like drugs and alcohol, that hurts people while making massive profits for a few. I realize that none of this will happen, but I subscribe to the “less is more” theory in these cases.

Tage has not been strong this year. Not a strong stick, no use of his body, very lackadaisical in his movements away from the puck, and even in his posture. In the offensive zone with the puck, he quite often is making too many moves. In the defensive zone he is not playing hard enough. He needs to simplify everything and work harder. I think he has had a few minor injuries that are slowing him down, then there is the thumb, but mostly the effort is not always there. He played with Greenway and Benson early in the year when everyone was injured and he did ok. Last night he looked bad.