Iron Crotch

Gionta - Girgs - Eichel seems to be a strangely effective line.

Franson is just crazy slow.

I lived in DC for 8 years and got pretty used to Beninati and Laughlin. Not a bad pair of announcers.

Gio was getting molested in front of the net.

Great pass by Eichel! Goal, Gio!

Second half of the power play wasn't too bad. But, guys look hesitant to shoot.

Phone hearing for Marchand. He'll get the typical "slap on the wrist" that Original-6 team players normally get.

I'm sure it is a very nice city... but I can think of no place I'd rather not live than Winnipeg in the winter. :) 53F in Nashville today. Was over 70 yesterday.

BJ's? No wonder 2500 people showed up.

The audience doesn't know what the hell they're watching.

Apparently guys with the last name Kane are a little on the rapey side. ;) In all seriousness, "sex offense" could mean a lot of different things.

Where did you go? I miss Colorado this time of year!

I agree with the bolded statement. But, I don't think the reason is sounds systems, the jumbotron, etc. Chants start organically in many other arenas that all have the same high tech gadgets as Buffalo. When I look around at a typical Sabres home games (note: I only go to a few per year) I notice a lot of Zombie-like people who act like it is a crime to draw attention to themselves by showing some emotion. One theory is this is a function of the aging population of WNY. The Sabres crowd is simply aging, and it is the young people who bring the energy and start the chants. According to Forbes, Buffalo is now the third greyest city in the country (% of population over 60 vs. under 15) and getting greyer. 10 or 20 years ago crowd noise would naturally be less of an issue than it is today. Just a theory... just throwing it out there... either way, a better team naturally helps. And, I still think the Sabres are weak when it comes to in-game marketing. :)

Merry X-Mas from San Francisco. Ho Ho Hosanna. Fa ra ra ra rah.

Whomever is in charge of that stuff in Buffalo needs to be replaced with someone who knows what they're doing. For the non-diehard fan (a demographic that isn't us on this board), effort needs to be taken to keep the casual fans engaged. It's just how it is in today's "Impulse Society" of immediate gratification. Milt Ellis plus an organist was great in 1976, but that's not the era we live in anymore. I'm not saying the lack of fighting and scoring and power plays don't have an impact. Just that steps can be taken to augment the off-ice product.

Corporate ticket holders comprise 60% of the fans in an average market. Buffalo isn't any different (probably less corporate than most markets, actually). Saying it has become too corporate doesn't explain why other markets that are even more corporate, more "white collar," are much louder... ...IMHO, the off-ice product - the arena experience - in Buffalo is the worst in the league. They offer very little beyond the on-ice product, which hasn't been very good. The arena is cavernous and has lousy acoustics. The choice of music during stoppages is terrible. There aren't any real attempts to fire up the fans by mascots, giveaways, clever videos played on the jumbotron (example attached), etc.... You get the game and not much else. That is fine if you have a good team, but without that you need a better game day experience to make it all worth it. The tailgating Bills example cited upthread is actually just that - a game day experience that makes up for a team that isn't very good.

Saw this: "The Montreal Canadiens are 11-12-3 since their 9-0 start to the 2015-2016 regular season, and have lost 8 of their last 9 outings, including 4 in a row." They're basically a great goaltender with a so/so team in front of him. Sounds like Buffalo in the Hasek era.

Montreal is free falling without Price in net. Losing record without him. The Preds beat the Habs 5-1 tonight.

With allowing kicked in goals (which I am for) it also eliminates the obvious defensive play of tying up opposing guys' sticks near the crease; and kills all the lengthy reviews where they spend 5 minutes looking for a "distinct kicking motion." It increases scoring and speeds up the game.

Make all the players eat borscht before each and every game. ...I'm not sure how that would increase scoring though. An alternative is to get rid of the blue lines and use the red line for offsides in each zone. It'd make the linesmen job a lot easier too (one on each side of the red line).

Not very often. It isn't super-convenient to where I live and can get pretty crowded. You go there?

My friend who worked for the Preds for a decade and knows Patrick claims he (Patrick) is basically "everybody's drinking buddy."

The vast majority of "star" players post pedestrian numbers their first season then blossom by year 3 or 4. It's just how the learning curve works. Jack has shown enough talent that I see no reason he won't be leading the team in scoring in a few year. He just needs to keep learning and keep getting stronger.

I'm not renewing NFL Sunday Ticket next year. I don't play fantasy football any more and if the Bills are going to be mediocre as usual then it isn't worth the money. Edit: but if I lived in Buffalo where I didn't have to drop several hundred dollars to see the games, then.... I'd probably still watch. :)

The whole thing just makes no sense. Last year was the best defense we've seen since the Wade Phillips days. So.... we hire a defensive head coach who completely changes the scheme??? My college team (Virginia Tech) did the opposite. For years they've had a great defense and no offense. So they hired an offensive guy as a head coach and kept the defensive staff. Makes logical sense. Fans are happy.