Pimlach

Tage had a good look and didn’t fire.

Pay attention to family. You just missed “my network has gone kaput!”, Nothing happening here

Tuch played that wrong. Now he has to go another shift.

Good PK. Looks like we are skating with these guys. Ready for more good road hockey.

Interesting. They know him, he knows them. Knowing the opponent is an advantage but it doesn't replace execution.

Why do you think that? That is just not what Granato is all about. Comrie gets the start to play against his former team, hopefully setting him up to play a strong game (see Tage in St Louis on Tuesday). I want to see Comrie play well and push UPL, it benefits the team. Plus he is going to be around next year so hopefully he finds another level and can be a 1B, not a 2.

He has a team on the rise and challenging for a playoff spot, with a decent cache of prospects, while operating on the cap floor so he has moved more efficiently than the last two GMs.

Makes sense. Trading a goal scorer and acquiring a goal score that is bigger and plays with more presence.

Then pass. If we acquire Meier I assume we put him on LE with Cozens and move Peterka where? Oloffsson scores more. Girgs plays a better defensive game. It doesn’t look like a KA move

Replace Bryson of course. Add size and mobility. Either get another 5/6 to pair with Looby, or get a 4 for Power and move then Joker to 3rd pair with Looby. The later would be a very strong unit. Bryson goes to 7. Clague to Rochester.

More recent data. We got Tuch, Krebs, a protected 1, and a 2 for Eichel. 3 equivalent 1’s plus a 2, and we sent a pick back with Eichel too. If Meier is 75% of Eichel, then they should get approx 2 equivalent 1’s and a 2 . Not 3 equivalent 1’s Östlund or Rosen, a protected 2023 # 1, and next years 2 should be ok. His contract is another problem that should favor us in negotiating them down.

Nice GDT start. Most all of my Canadian friends mock Winnipeg as very cold and kind of boring. They don’t think much of Buffalo either. Good to hear another perspective. Would love to get out of there with another 2 points. Is Comrie playing tonight?

Sure, one piece can hurt, two pieces can hurt, but not all 3. This years #1, Quinn, and Kulich is three first round pieces. Quinn and Kulich are already looking like they will be very good NHL players. Meir makes too much money on top of that. I just read his agent is Claude Lemueix. Another factor against us in the negotiations.

No way would I do that trade.

The did defend the lead and they won the game. Calm down, they are a young team and a work in progress. They just came off a game the night before.

I am not sure that any of Cozens 3 goals came from playing on the Kid line. Yesterday's EN goal was a PK goal. The OT Dallas goal was with Tage and Dahlin. He did get the first goal of the game vs the Ducks and was assisted by Boosh and Dahlin. Not sure what line he was on at the time. Cozens is getting goals and points on any line and on the PP/PK. I suspect he would be over 20 goals already if he played on another line.

Several times he took a shove after the whistle while skating back to the bench for a line change. They were goading Peterka, but not Quinn. Maybe JJP talks trash out there?

I saw Peterka several times away from the play "getting involved". It looked more like a few Blues players either didn't care for him, or they just wanted to put fear into him, or maybe get a fight just to do something (just like their coach used to do). It didn't work, and at the time we were all over them and he probably did not want to do something to inspire the Blues team which at that point looked like big gold pylons compared to the Sabres. I can see JJP is getting close to answering the bell. Like Dahlin finally did last season, and then Krebs this season, I think JJP is going to snap one day. But keep in mind these 3 players are not ever going to be fighters, but they do need to make it known and established around the league that they wont take that crap either.

I see those vibes as humor. I like Duffer.

I like his game. He is an upgrade and he fits in on the ice and in the locker room.

Yes, he should start in Rochester and if looks good he could be the first call up. I do not understand why he would not want to join this team and play for DG.

Probably not smart for him to push the puck out and into play when he is taken out of the play and they have the extra attacker, but yes, the call was baffling and could have cost us the game.

Then that was really inconsistent. They could have called roughing, or cross check, or even holding, on the Blues for that play as well.

Yes, I recall him taking the body. Could not see the details of the scrum. Would love it if he gets a consistent nasty edge.

Well that was a fun night for me and the Mrs. The Atmosphere going - We fought traffic and the rumors of a "snow storm" and got to our seats about 10 minutes prior to the anthem. The Blues were pumping loud, bass dominated, electronic garbage over the PA. My ear drums were vibrating from the bass noise. The lady next to me said they started doing this "once they got bad" to get the crowd pumped up. So my interpretation is the energy of the Stanley Cup win is fading, and along with all the Blues injuries and age, the team has fallen to the middle of the pack. Maybe I will finally see a Sabres win in this town? The fans are loud and proud, mostly polite mid-westerners that love their team. The guy who runs the sound system is always present and has an array of non stop crappola on the score board to keep the fans going. First Period - Sabres attacked early and often, the first line scored twice in the first 1:25. Tage and his mates were looking good. Power got the third goal on a great feed from Tage and we held a nice 3-0 at the end of the period. What I saw away from the puck was interesting. The Blues took every opportunity to push, shove and whack the kids - Peterka, Quinn, and Krebs - during play, after the whistle, away from the play, on their way to the bench, didn't matter. Especially Peterka who looks like he wants to push back but can't summon the grit quite yet. It's coming. First period intermission - I was seated in the 100 level. People watching was interesting. No one dresses nice for hockey as a night out anymore. Talked to a few Blues fans and they had no doubt the Blues would prevail, "Buffalo is and easy team to beat", "11 years no playoffs", and "Thompson is good". Second period - Tage with a nice goal for 4-0. Then the Blues got 2. The Blues started to push back and play hard. The Sabres either stopped playing their game, or the Blues are good enough to stop them, in any case the Blues win the period. That first goal should NOT have happened. Lots of lapses in the d-zone this period, no one (I think Power was there) played the man on the backhand goal. The lapses in the D-zone seem to be in large part two things. (1) Face offs, we need to get control of the puck on at least 50% of them. Even when we win the faceoff we don't retrieve the puck and execute consistent and clean break out plays. This is on the everyone out there, not only the defenders. (2) The forwards are not consistently not very strong on the walls and in the corners, and they do not watch for point men moving into the play enough. This part of the game will hopefully come. A lot of our problems in the d-zone are the forwards. Second Intermission - over 20 random Sabres fans walking about collected in one spot to chat and of course, someone decided we had to take a picture. That was nice. Third period - Blues roar out and score in 47 seconds. The crowd is back in it and it is feeling like they could blow this. But they didn't. They did not go "full alamo" but they let a few odd man rushes and a breakaway happen. UPL made a few huge saves, getting out and challenging Tarsenko . The Sabres held them off for the remaining 19:13 and won. That was very impressive considering their fatigue from the B2B. DG could not shelter the kids as much as usual this game. Cozens played a big role at the end and his EN goal was excellent. The 6 Kids: Quinn was hesitant again at times but he did not make stupid mistakes either. I wish he would get greedy and shoot more. Peterka was more noticeable, had an assist, and seemed to draw the attention and ire from several Blues. Krebs was the most active kid-forward, he tried to hit people on his forecheck but was literally swatted away a few times. Muel was not very noticeable, which usually means he is doing his job. Power does not look like a rookie at all. Nice goal and solid overall, although I think it was him that left the backhand goal happen, uncontested on the shooter. UPL lets in 3 but again made huge saves in crunch time. The refs missed a few calls. The hit that sent Krebs head first into the boards, from Mikkola, was not called. Props to KO for jumping in there. The refs blew that call. It was not consistent with the call on Dahlin for cross checking that drew roughing from several Blues that were not called. Inconsistent. I did not understand the Krebs faceoff interference call. Most of the fans around me thought the Blues were getting the call. Overall great game, the first win that I have seen in this building. The Sabres are trending up. The Blues have a lot of good players out injured, they are trending down because of it. Tage was the story of the game here. Lots of people in the Blues organization express happiness to see him reach this level. No one in their right mind would trade Tage straight up for Kyrou or Thomas today. Those were the guys the Blues rated above him at the time of the ROR trade. They are both very good players, but right now it appears we have the unicorn. edit add: Joker impressed me. Nice skater and he sees the ice very well.