Pimlach

They are mixing up who plays were, sure, they did that. But the still do essentially the same thing, perimeter passing, in the new alignment. They pass around the perimeter until someone thinks they have a clear shot, usually with no screen or no one in the slot. We have great shooters so it works sometimes, but not enough. The opponent PK is putting pressure on whoever has the puck, they don't wait in a defensive posture for us to set up a play. Our guy with the puck is under pressure, hence the fast perimeter passing - our extra man joins them on the outside so that we can maintain possession but 5 on the outside is what the opponents want. Then they keep sticks down and in the passing lanes. They get their goalies a view clear. We get a shot, they recover the rebound and they try to breakout or clear. When they clear they put pressure on the us deep in our zone, quite often with 2 guys. Our goalies have face high danger changes with us on the PP way to much. The PP went sour at the end of last season after being dominant for awhile. Perhaps teams figured it out? It still seems like it to me.

And he plays hard minutes and takes on a physical role. Dahlin in his prime, which is still coming, will be a special.

Yes. I just lurked during his heyday. The DeLuca 0.500 is a compelling view too.

Exactly, give Cozens and Tarasenko 2 each for roughing and call it a day. Minimum is to give Tarasenko 2 for the shot at Okposo and let the rest go. My view is you give Tarasenko 4 and Cozens 2.

It could be better with some traffic in front of the goalie and someone in the slot to gather up rebounds. I think they pass when shots are there, especially in the beginning of the PP - it is as if they feel they have to go around the horn a few times. PP is an area that needs improvement, we have the guns.

Well, they didn't blow the lead and they did win by 2. You can look at it as a win on the road, when on the 2nd night of a back to back, against a pretty strong team and division rival.

I was just pointing it out to @PASabreFanbecause he mentioned Dahlin's big hit in the Montreal game as too little to late. Wanted to know if he saw this game where Dahlin had a both a physical and a high-skill presence, and was a difference maker IMO.

The top 5 for activity: 1. This is the year we make the playoffs 2. Is Leinonen ready to be our #1? 3. Do you think we should sign Gallant for HC? 4. Is Kelly Pegula the hottest NHL Team President? 5. Is Dahlin the smartest player in the league?

Dec 31, 2004 GuestDeluca67 Happy Holidays to ALL

Don't know. I would guess Sabres but that is just a guess.

Yup, play all three and see what happens - an in season tryout if you will - it is what we have. Maybe by the trade deadline we can trade one to free up a roster spot for another D/F? It will take a bunch of games to determine who to keep. Competition will bring out the best.

Did you see the play by Dahlin last night leveling a Senator with about 10 minutes left. I thought that hit was clean and had great timing. He is starting to hit his stride.

I missed the part about anybody saying anything about Benson serving for Cozens. I do recall Ray telling Dan to be quiet during the penalty announcements. I just think we deserve better from Ray and Dan. I hope there is some kind of quality control evaluation of feedback on them. Today, when I looked at the box score using the App called "the Score" it shows Benson 2 mins for slashing at 17:23, it does not say he is serving for Cozens. It shows Cozens and Tarasenko with 4 minute minors each at 17:23, so they are a wash and out the rest of the game. In addition they hit Cozen for 10 misconduct. The Benson serving 2 for slashing is why the Sens had the PP. This is apparently wrong. The ESPN box score shows that Cozens got 2 for slashing (served by Benson), Cozens got 4 for roughing, Tarasenko got 4 for roughing, Cozens got an extra 10. This lines up with your explanation. To me this is really a poor officiating job to see the outcome of a Tarasenko cheap shot on Kyle after the whistle go uncalled, it was the start of all the problems and they give Cozens 16 minutes in penalties for it, it provided a Sen PP and a 6 on 4. As long as we were getting the extra 2, it would have been nice to see Cozens beat the hell out of Tarasenko, who was very brave hiding behind a linesman. So the refs blew the Tkachuk headhunting, the Tkachuk hit after the fight, and the Tarasenko cheap shot. The rematch is in Ottawa on New Years, should be interesting.

Thanks, Ray and Dan were blabbering on as usual. I am getting tired of them already. No more RJ at the end of his career to salvage this broadcast team. Minutes of play by play get ignored every game while they pontificate. Keys plays and nuances never get talked about. Ray tries to analyze what is happening but lacks the depth to do it correctly. Dan would be better if he stuck to play by play only, and made it a priority. Dan needs to get more excited for the Sabres than for the opponent too.

it just feels like a KC super bowl with Taylor bringing in millions of "new fans" ... imagine the TV Commercial for a Swifty Bowl? I cannot believe it has happened but the NFL has dropped to my second favorite league. Sometimes I think the games are fixed, given the influence of gambling on all sports, they probably are.

The Sabres got tired about halfway through the 2nd period, just like the Islanders did when we played them on a back to back. We had a 3-0 lead but the momentum swing was all Sens. The Sens scored at the 13:14 mark of the second and they had huge pressure on us, dominating several long shifts in our zone. UPL made a few big stops in this flurry, right when we really needed it. Then the Sabres (Tuch) finally got one on the PP, then Tage got the late tip in, 5-1 game over. About halfway through the third things got ugly with Tuch and Tkachuck. The refs missed (more like let go) a blatant charging/roughing by Tkachuk on Tuch, leading to a retaliation by Tuch - which they called and they got them both for fighting. The officials were the reason the game got stupid. The next group of penalties was very troubling. Tarasenko roughed KO after the whistle leading to a response by Cozens. Cozens ended up with 4 mins of roughing and 10 mins for misconduct and they even got Benson for 2 minutes. We never got the straight penalty story from blabbering Ray and Dan - they were terrible once again, but we ended up on the PK which seemed to defy logic from what actually happened. It seemed like the Sens had the PP for most of the last 3 or 4 minutes of the game and they got a few cheap goals on scrambles in front of the net. We have to keep our composure. With Tuch and Cozens out for the game we just need to protect the 5-2 lead. Fatigue, the crowd, the fights, whatever - we have to do better in these times - that was playoff intensity in the last half of the 3rd. Thankfully Tage made a few nice moves to get control of the puck on the PK and he flipped the clincher in. That was a very big EN goal and I am glad Tage got it because he has been working hard to get his game going. Overall an excellent road win on a B2B for us. We corrected some things from the Montreal game. We gave UPL a lot of support, we are playing like a team again, team defense is getting better the last few games, and a few more guns are starting to fire. The addition of Johnson and Clifton, plus the reclamation of Greenway and all of a sudden we have some physical presence to go with Cozens and Tuch. Bring on the Lindy and the Devils.

You shall then be cast into Pegula's endless pit of losing ....

Well. They got 2 on the back end of the B2B. Especially good since they lost last night and this is a 4 point game. Ugly end. Good overall.

Oh my, TNT

This is home cooking for Ottawa.

71 holding our guys stick. No call goal

Thanks ref. Stupid call.

I don’t understand how they get a power play. Ottawa gets rewarded for aggression after whistle