RochesterExpat

Holy hell that behind the back pass by Skinner. Nice try.

Power not afraid to hold the line there and press. Nice to see.

He’s doing a bit better than his brother, Bench.

I watched the entire game and Davies didn't stand out. That's not such a bad thing for a defenseman I suppose. I know he was on the ice a bunch, but he didn't make any bad plays defensively that I saw, but he also didn't make any offensive plays like Pilut did. He was just there. This is my expert analysis. I expect a head scouting job any day now from an NHL front office.

It was the third goal. I went to dig up the replay because I remember this goal as I thought (and said at the time) that it went off the player in front. The Caps announcers thought so to at first and then seemed to be confused about it after. That being said, the Caps announcers were absolutely horrible so I'm shocked they were even aware the puck went into the net. I had to have the list of players and jersey numbers in front of me the entire game because they referred to players (on both sides) by the team names more often than player names and were typically quite far behind the play. This is the goal. It's officially credited on the score sheet to Snively as he tipped it to the high corner. I'm not sure UPL is truly squared to that shot though. The camera angle isn't very good either. This is the second goal he gave up. Sova might have been trying to go for the change there and got caught leading to the 2 on 1. I said in the thread that I wasn't sure how he got beat, but I'm not sure he really did. I think it was a bad change. This is the first goal. On the powerplay and Mantha just rocketed it. UPL was squared to the shooter. It is what it is.

The only one was Cozens. Krebs if you want to count him. I can’t pull up the box score on my phone that shows FO%, but I’d be shocked if Krebs won more than two draws in ten+. I saw him win one. That was it. Cozens looked better and, in the very least, when Cozens lost a draw he was able to hold the other center down. Krebs did not play well in the face off dot.

Couple other points: - As others said, they did a shootout after the game. Rousek won it in the 7th round. Rousek did a good job feeding Kulich the puck a few times and played well overall. - Tyson Kozak outshined and outplayed Quinn and Peterka. If you disagree we can settle it with fisticuffs. Both Quinn and Peterka played fine. Kozak was just far more impactful while he was on the ice. Part of that may have been that Quinn and Peterka were with Cozens whereas Kozak was with Murray and Sheahan. Quinn and Peterka are not on the level of Cozens whereas I'm confident in saying Kozak is a better player than Murray and Sheahan. Hence his impact may have been outsized. On the flip side, he got a lot less ice time than Quinn and Peterka did, but made better use of it. He's definitely a two-way player so he was noticeable in both ends. Regardless, Kozak will be in Rochester in the fall. There's no chance he's going back to Juniors. - UPL looked good. Not great, but certainly not as bad as I think his SV% will suggest. - Our best defenseman on the ice was Pilut. I thought he'd be fighting for a 7th or 8th slot, but now I don't know. Curious how the rest of camp goes for him. - As far as Sabres players go, Cozens looked dramatically better than everyone else. Asplund played well with Hinostroza. Those three were clear NHL players in this scrimmage. I don't see Peterka or Quinn bumping Vinnie from the roster. - Kulich and Kozak have a decent argument to get 10 games in Buffalo this year. They weren't at the NHL level of the three above, but they were noticeable and outplayed their opponents when they were on the ice. If you had this on your 2022 Bingo Card I'm calling *****. Not that either are about to bump out Quinn or Peterka for roster spots. Just pleasantly surprised with how they played and it's worth putting here. - Savoie does not look NHL ready, but I also think pairing him with Asplund and Hinostroza may have had something to do with that. He had some serious flashes of talent and good Lord that kid has some hands, but he played the periphery too much. I'd like to see him with Cozens in a game. - I said if we were above 40% I'd be shocked. Box score says 24 - 36... which is hilariously exactly 40%. Not above though. I still have some dignity. On that note, Krebs is awful at the dot. - These guys have some serious speed. They're going to draw a lot of penalties this season. - Asplund on the powerplay is... preseason hockey. There exists no reason to bring Eakin. Glad he is gone. Just an area that needs some real improvement. I'd also argue if Cozens and Krebs can't win faceoffs against other prospects in a glorified scrimmage, the team should be taking note of that and working on it. That's what these games are for.

Score. Hinostroza gets it. 4-3 Buffalo

Quinn scores. 3-3. He read that perfectly.

Peterka with a bad play in the offensive zone and gives up the puck. We have no quarterback for this powerplay. Pilut is not a QB--although I doubt that's news to anyone.

We suck at faceoffs. If we're above 40% I'm going to be shocked. Hinostroza proving he's still absurdly fast and draws a penalty. Good opportunity to tie it up with 2:30 remaining.

Sova has broken up his third Caps rush that I've seen by pinching the offensive player to the boards. Not bad. Fitzgerald made a bad decision to play the body after the Caps player gave up the puck. Let them get a decent chance. He got lucky.

Caps score. Went off the Caps player in front off a long shot.

Few more points: Cozens was no slouch last season as far as physical play goes, but he's playing more physical this game than he was at the end of the last season. Good to see. He's also dominating when has the puck. I don't know if that's his confidence or just his talent being above the pre-season level (for lack of a better term). Kulich looks like an NHLer in this game. That blows my mind. Our PK is awful. Thankfully this is pre-season. Still. UPL looks fine. He's doing better with rebound control so far than he was doing in Rochester last season. Buffalo is the faster team by a mile.

Damn Bills.

Cozens draws a penalty.

UPL couldn't have done anything on that. Two on one. Not sure how Sova got beat. Looks like he may have been out of position.

Kozak with a nice goal.

Cozens goal.

Kulich "getting medical attention on the Sabres' bench." God the Washington commentators are awful.

Quinn - Cozens - Peterka on the PP1

I love paying for every subscription on the planet and I'm still stuck finding an illegal stream to watch this game. I missed Mantha's goal though. Anyone see it?

On defense I'm more excited to see how Sova stacks up than anyone because the kid really intrigues me after the prospect challenge. I don't think he's some hidden future NHL all-star or anything, but he puts in the work and positions well. He's got some seasoning left, sure; but I think that worst case scenario for him is he ends up playing in the AHL one day. Frankly, that's a pretty good place to be.

Pilut is a decent enough defenseman unless his game regressed playing in Europe. I’m not surprised he’s doing well so far. His departure was due to a disagreement on a one-way vs two-way contract with the old regime and then a lack of communication that led to him leaving for the KHL. His agent told the Sabres he would leave for Europe if they didn’t send him a contract and the Sabres didn’t believe him. Just poor management.