Pimlach

McLoed played over 15 minutes, while Krebs played only 8. Why is McLoed playing with 4th liners is the question but that line saw more ice than Krebs , Peterka, and Benson. McLoed has long reach and great speed. On the 6v5 he might have been able to carry a puck out and race down the ice. It blows my mind that Kulich was sent out for those critical defensive zone faceoffs. There is more to the game than winning the draw.

Agree on the injury. Wedgewood was down quite awhile. If the Avs were more concerned about their goalie it was odd that they challenged for goalie interference. The refs had that called correctly on the ice. Benson played a regular shift after his goal. He got crosschecked by O’Conner and promptly punch him in the face 3 times and backed him down. Benson is not afraid I didn’t like the way Ruff played that last 4 minutes. His bench was too short and I feel he over used Tuch and Malenstyn when Zucker and McLoed would have been more poised and both were playing good and deserving of more ice. Thompson is a liability when asked to defend and he was out there but not Zucker. Finally, asking Kulich to take key defensive zone faceoffs, that’s a case of managing by stats with no feel for the game. He didn’t win a single draw and he couldn’t help us get possession. Big fail across the board.

The bolded paragraph is spot on. I am a Lindy fan, but I am very unhappy with the overall play of his team. They are no better than last year although they are healthier and they made some changes in the off season. Much of this is on Adams and Pegula, but the coaching staff is accountable as well. With a 5-3 lead they should have licking their chops looking for that 6th goal and instead they retreated and played scared. They never threatened even once to score into the EN. They turtled, they caved, they quit - all of it. They literally failed at every facet of defending their lead. The OT was a forgone conclusion that the Av's skill players would easily win, again. This meltdown, coming weeks after blowing a 4-1 lead at home to this same team, is not something that many long time loyal fans should be excusing away. To those looking for positives: Yes, they played good for large parts of the game, and they answered the Avs goals several times, and yes the Avs are very good, but this team proved again to be fragile and mentally soft. The fact that the game was there for the taking makes it worse. It is unfortunate that Terry cannot, and will not, interview and hire qualified hockey people to run his team - but he won't unless he somehow knows them, or knows someone who knows them, or other such nonsense. He seems like a nice guy but his commitment to this team is not there. This team is still operating under his Covid cost restrictions. I want to see him sell at least 51% of this team to a local interest. He is the root cause of all the losing.

And they most certainly got under the refs skin, leading to two consecutive "makeup calls" after the refs correctly ruled on the the ice that Benson was pushed into the crease.

Yes, correct. I remember that now. That was big and it is unfortunate they did not get that call which would have put the next face off outside of our D Zone. So they did win one faceoff, but overall they didn't do the things winning teams do. Maybe having a rookie take those big faceoffs in our D Zone was not the best decision? Maybe McLoed, who has Stanley Cup experience, might have ben a better choice? I don't recall him even playing in the last few minutes.

They could not change players with all the stupid icings that they took in the 6 on 5. Ruff needed the timeout because he played the same guys for most of the 6 on 5. Tuch and Malenstyn and Dahlin played way too much and they were gassed. The Sabres played very good hockey for 56 minutes and 8 seconds. After that they fell apart. They played the entire 6v5 by trying not to lose. They set up a very passive box in an attempt to take away shooting lanes but they gave up lots of room for Colorado to move the puck unchallenged. In the 6v5 they had no puck possession, no puck pressure, no faceoff wins, no won puck battles on loose pucks, no D zone breakouts, almost no neutral zone time, nothing. They became the Washington Generals playing against the Globetrotters. Muel had time and space with the puck and he blindly iced the puck. He could have easily carried it into the neutral zone and/or took a better shot at the EN. It was right there and he choked They all choked, even the coaches They almost never had the puck after their 5th goal. I’ve never seen a team fold that badly.

The Sabres answered the Avs and scored with 3:52 left to build another two goal lead. They were fighting. As soon as they got the lead they changed to passive play.

They suck as constructed. They are not as skilled as they are sold to be. Not nearly as skilled as Colorado. Where was the skill? Quinn and Peterka ***** were stapled to the bench. Cozens? Power? They have nothing at center. Nothing. The top two centers have been moved to wing because they cannot play two way hockey against the opponents top two. Did they win a faceoff in the final 3:52? Kulich taking face-offs in crunch time? He was a winger in Rochester. Why was Zucker not granted more ice at the end when our forwards were losing puck battles and could not break out. Malenstyn and Tuch played too many ineffective late minutes. I can agree on not trusting Adams to make any moves.

Ahhh. The exhaustive coaching search that Adams conducted. But I sure can’t blame Lindy for all of the problems. This organization is poorly run. Men vs Boys

The point is no consolidation when they lost another winnable game to the same team. They had a two goal lead with 3:52 left and they lost. This point means nothing and the psychological damage is there.

He had a shot, he didn’t take it, he had no were to go and lost the puck. Pretty pathetic.

It happened again. They choked in almost the exact fashion. Wow. The led the entire game. Then they stopped attacking.

They lose faceoffs and they lay back and wait. No puck pressure at all. They laid back as soon as they got the 5th goal.

Of course it’s McKinnon. We lost too many faceoffs.

The faceoff should come out Muel

Ugh. We need to stop the passive protect mentality. Get to the neutral zone when the net is empty. From there you can score or at least ice it.

I want an ENG. Do NOT give these pricks another goal.

I called it. Zucker with a Hattie. Tage came up big.

Way too passive. They need some OZone time.

The Sabres play better when they are fighting for their lives. The last thing we need is them to be complacent and protect a lead. They need to grow up tonight. Fight and win.

Thank the refs for that one. They are spooked by the crowd. Colorado committing crimes and Sabres getting soft penalties.

Nice Cliffy. Take him off

Wow. The crowd has spooked the Zebras.

Huge make up call against Tuch. That was no hook. Benson punching OConner in the head. That was classic.

Wedgewood to Blackwood